Kenyananalyst

Link to my new site

2006-05-26T11:56:00.000+03:00

I've moved houses

2006-05-25T01:20:00.000+03:00

This happens to have been my last post here as I have moved to a new estate.
The new estate is still under construction and it might be a long while before it looks any more decent, but my next post should come from there.
A big thank you to the one blogger who has, over the past few days, helped me recover from the most terrible of hackings I have had since I began blogging in 2003 (at another site).
Thanks for your time, expertise and generosity; the good Lord bless you!
And for my dear hackers, thanks for constantly reminding me that I'm not all that free at all!
Not even in my own country.

Live from Soweto & of Poi's goodbye

2006-05-23T00:42:00.000+03:00

The session on the Beeb a few hours ago went well, albeit hurried.
The South African edition (running kitu 8:00pm Kenyan time) allowed the studio audience in Nairobi and Lagos good amount of time to say some things, though - as expected - the show was dominated by the South Africans.
I asked for a fair allocation of wealth and opportunities in the country; a well-structured political system unlike the existing corrupt ones that entrench old guards in power and ensure that youths remain "wingers" and also suggested that - with Nigeria on the West Coast and Kenya on the East Coast - an elaborate socio-economic agenda or blue-print be researched, initiated and proposed for adoption by the AU to advance the youth agenda.
When the programme went international at 9:05pm (Kenyan time), the time was limited but I got to ask the South Africans if they were prepared to relax immigration laws to allow for the movement of manpower, knowledge and goods.
Asked for my assesment of Kenyan-South African relations, I didn't commit myself, - I said the countries have had their bad and good times, but went back to the youth issue and suggested that capable, educated and driven youths in both countries (but particularly South Africa) needed to now acquire economic and political power in their desire to exert a redeeming influence on their societies and its issues over and above the troubles they have had with the older generation.
The show was interesting....you can listen again by clicking on World Have Your Say: Live from Soweto (bottom right on the BBC website).

*****
Poi's goodbye and the continuing responses to her posts as well as Mental's should, in a large way, remind us of the vexing moral and spiritual questions of our day.
Not knowing neither Mental nor Poi personally, my interpretation of the events has largely been on the basis of their posts and on that basis, I have formed some opinions of which those I have been in touch with regarding the same are already aware.
One such opinion that I have publicly expressed is that, in the words of Thomas Paine, "reputation is what men and women think about us; character is what God and the angels know about us."
Equally important, human praise and acclaim in this life is often empty and fickle at its very best so that having an eternal perspective of this life and its issues is both liberating and helpfully comforting in a fallen and hurting world.
Someday, I believe, all known and unknown history on the Poi-Mental matter - as indeed every other issue in our lives - will definitely culminate before the throne of the Most High Living God.
I pray He keeps those among us who call upon His name in Himself till then.

Yours truly on the good old Beeb

2006-05-22T12:14:00.000+03:00

Tonight - on the 22nd I'll be part of a young audience to talk about the things that are important to them (young people) as well as "the future of South Africa".

On the 23rd, I should still be part of the same audience that will be discussing the political future of South Africa, South Africa as a "leader" for Africa, the importance of the 2010 World Cup as well as the day's news.

All that will be on the BBC's World Have Your Say.

If you - a Kenyan - have any thoughts you think are worth passing on, drop me an e-mail at Kenyananalyst@yahoo.com.

I'll try my best to condense all that as and when I receive your mail.

Thanks.

Jesse.

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

I support Mzalendo!

2006-05-17T18:53:00.000+03:00

I support Mzalendo..... Each of my blogs will have a link to it.... And I'll find other ways to spread the word too... Again, congrats Thinker and Ory...

P.L.O Lumumba - Yawa!!!!!!!

2006-05-17T18:35:00.000+03:00

Forwarded by WANGARI KIHARA

"In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities, and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosa. Let your conversational communications possess a compacted conciseness, a clarified comprehensibility, a coalescent cogency, and a concatenated consistency. Eschew obfuscation and all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune rabblement, and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descanting and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and voracious vivacity without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolificacy, and vain vapid verbosity.

In short what Lumumba was telling his fellow commissioners in the review team is: "Be brief and don't use big words!!!!"

Choosing God's reign

2006-05-17T08:13:00.000+03:00

By GERI RODMAN

"Men and Women, I call us this evening to repentance. We need to turn from the idols that enslave us, that demonize, dehumanize, and degrade us, and return to the living God. We need to turn from the illusory kingdoms of self to the very real and substantial Kingdom of God."

My two friends and I came from Canada to the Urbana Convention. We sat together in the middle section, just below the nosebleed seats. We three listened to John Stott, who expounded 2 Timothy each morning.

We three listened to missionaries talk about the power of God, about the love of God for lost people, about miracles and the supreme joy of being devoted to Jesus no matter what the circumstance.

When it came time to make a decision, we three were ready. We stood together and made a commitment to give our lives to mission and follow God's leading anywhere, at home or abroad.

Now, we are thirty-six years this side of Urbana 1967. For my friend Ted, the inspiration he received and commitment he made led him to be a career missionary. He is serving God's purpose in Europe and parts of Africa. He has been on the mission field for over thirty years.

The other friend who came with me was Mary, someone who had made it clear to her family, her friends and her church that she was going to be an overseas missionary. If there was a sure bet, Mary was it. Today, Mary is a top executive in her field. She has influence; she has affluence, and some very impressive toys. She rubs shoulders every day with some very powerful people. But she is not a missionary overseas, and she is not a missionary in her work context. God is not shaping her life choices.

When I left Urbana, with the passion and inspiration of my decision still very fresh, I had every intention of fulfilling it. I would finish high school, then on to university and then into Christian service. However, when I started at the University of Toronto a year later, I began to wonder whether it might not be a bad idea to put those commitments aside for a time.

I wanted to take just a little break – just enough time to savour some new friendships, some new thoughts, and a new worldview. I decided to take a little detour. That detour turned out to be longer than I'd expected. It would be eight years before I would once again consider the decision I made at Urbana.

Ted, Mary and me – we three! We heard the same message. We stood up with the same conviction and made a decision with passionate sincerity. But with such very different outcomes. How could that be?

Central to this question is what defines our reality?

I am a big movie fan. So of course I was there with the best of them on November 5 to see the latest installment of The Matrix. As much as I enjoyed the sequels, I found the first Matrix the most compelling. The main idea of the Matrix is that reality is not what it seems. What characters experience, what they see, touch, hear, taste and smell is not, in fact, true reality.

This is an engaging and disturbing premise for a story because we all base our lives on what we believe is real. And like the movie, "reality" often has more layers than what is first apparent.

Scripture says that when we let something or someone other that God define our reality, we are committing idolatry. We may think of idolatry as something people did in ancient times – nothing we’d do now – bowing down before statues and offering sacrifices to golden calves – we don’t do that! But idolatry is subtler, more insidious and a hundred times more pervasive than that. Idolatry has to do with what we worship, and what we worship defines our reality. It defines what we love, what we fear, what we long for, and what we aspire to. It affects how we pray and what we pray for. It shapes what keeps us up at night, what we do in secret and where we turn when we need solace and care. It is the thing that adds definition, color and nuance to our daily choices.

In the gospels, and I am sure you remember this story; a man comes to Jesus and asks him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The man comes and questions Jesus because he senses that despite all that he is doing to lead a good life, something is missing. Like Neo, the main character in the Matrix, he has an intuitive sense that despite appearances, something is amiss.

This was a man driven to do the right things. When Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, he does all of them. Not one does he miss. And he has done them since his youth. How many of us could say that? Certainly not me!

Perhaps he was beginning to entertain the frightening notion that the reality by which he organized his life might not, in the end, secure the thing he wanted most.

My own restlessness, the sense of something amiss, started in high school. My life with God had been particularly marked by a few things: summers at Christian camp as a kid and my home church, which was a family-based church.

Camp was where I most understood the reality of Jesus. Hearing God's Word in the midst of God's creation; living with eight kids gave an opportunity to live out and see lived out, an obedience to Jesus in loving and serving others – and probably, for me, always asking for and receiving forgiveness. Jesus became real for me.

At my church, I knew adults of Christian faith, who were very sincere, and whose lives were deeply changed by the gospel. But the church struggled to engage the societal shifts of the 1960's and the social revolution. There were unwritten assumptions that there were certain things that Christians didn't do, certain questions that Christians didn't ask, certain topics that Christians don't talk about.

I concluded God's kingdom was narrow and had a lot of arbitrary rules of conduct. The rules, for me, made no sense, but I liked the people, so I began to live a compartmentalized life, and a hidden life. You can imagine my restlessness, my sense of unease, as I tried to live vacillating between these two worlds.

Idolatry entered in at that point. Other things other than God became more real for me. I graduated, and I was selected for a great job, which included working for the Olympics. The job paid well. I was in love with a great non-Christian man. We were talking seriously about getting married. We worked hard and we played hard, and we worked together in the same work. I had part ownership of a sailboat and a ski chalet, a sports car, and all the toys and gadgets you could ever dream of, and all the places you could ever fly to.

With the Rich Ruler, he was blameless by the rules of conduct. But he was missing the big piece of reality – relationship with Jesus. Jesus addresses his deep restlessness. Jesus invites him to decide to leave behind his idolatry of money, so that he could, with his whole self, follow after Jesus and participate in the Kingdom of God.

Likewise, Jesus invited me to deal with my restlessness. Ironically, I am probably one of a few Christians who was urged back to the faith by her non-Christian boyfriend. He asked me to go back to church and decide once and for all about God. He knew he didn't want Jesus and he didn't want a wife who followed Jesus. He liked our life the way it was.

Reluctantly, I started attending church. It was the closest one I could roll out of bed and go to. Providentially, an old friend spotted me and made herself a fixture in my life. She introduced me to her friends and Christian mentors. I found myself in a small group with her, asking all the questions I had stored up, and then some! I found that Marilyn and Shirley, although they were Christians, were actually pretty fun people. I enjoyed being with them. They weren’t afraid of my questions. They had their own questions about life and they brought them openly before God. They treated God as a friend. They hid nothing.

They introduced me to a missionary friend. As you can probably guess, I also didn’t like missionaries. She and her husband had helped found the IFES student movement in Colombia. She was so different than the stereotypes I had built up about missionaries – she was not narrow-minded, she wasn’t out-of-touch, or strangely religious. "Weird," as I called it! Instead, she was a "with-it" person, fun to be with, and anything but boring. And she would engage every question I had.

Above all, she and these Christian friends gave me a glimpse of life lived out not vacillating between two worlds. They broke my stereotypes; they had an attractive, intimate relationship with Jesus that I had never developed. Jesus shaped the way they lived, and the choices they made. They loved me enough to challenge the things that were idols in my life; things that limited my relationship with God.

Friends, who or what defines your reality? Is it the Kingdom of God, or is it the Kingdom of Self? Is it Jesus, his love, his purpose, his power, his very self? Or is it something else?

What makes up the Matrix of illusion and idolatry for those of us in North America? I want us to consider three general avenues of idolatry. And friends, I want you to know: I had to face these idols and how they expressed themselves in my life, to be free to really embrace the life of Jesus and his kingdom.

So I come to you tonight, not to burden you, but to be with you in this process.

The Idolatry of Self-Glory or Self- Fulfillment

Perhaps only a few of us would actually admit that our life ambition is to rule the world. Most of us wouldn't say that. But how many more of us dream of being set apart, of being noticed, of being Number One, or of being special or praised by this world? How many of us are caught up in the desire to project the right image, wearing the right clothes, being in with the right people or the right group?

How many of our thoughts gravitate to "will I be accepted, will I be happy, will I like the job I do? Will it entertain me, or keep my interest?" I loved the idea that I worked with the Olympics in Montréal. I loved being a part of a crack team, hand-selected by my boss! I loved that my future was going to be with the International Olympic Committee, and fly all over the world. I liked that.

For me, I needed to set aside my agenda for self-glory or self-fulfillment – the path I had decided I was on. So God took me to Colombia, where I spoke no Spanish. I couldn’t communicate. I couldn’t really do anything. I could just be loved by the people there, and enter a relationship with God. How many of us are swayed by the matrix of worldly honor, glory or fulfillment rather than Kingdom of glory?

The Idolatry of Self-Comfort

For those of us from Canada and the US, avoiding suffering and experiencing comfort can have an incredible power. Jesus promises us a life filled with joy, community, power, depth and persecution! Jesus promises to comfort us in our suffering; but Jesus does not promise us a comfortable life.

One of my students when I worked in California came to university with her life ambition being to acquire a husband with a good job, get some kids, and get a house in the suburbs, complete with white picket fence. While there was nothing wrong with wanting any of those things, she allowed her reality to be defined by the drive for security and comfort. And she had to give that over to God, to allow God to fill her with his presence.

Today, Susan and her husband work in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. They combat poverty, government bureaucracy and their own weaknesses. Her life is not comfortable, but it is rich, full of purpose and the very real presence of Jesus.

Our drive for self-comfort can also lead us into all kinds of addictions. Alcoholism continues to be a major health issue on North American university and college campuses, as well as gambling. As believers, we are not immune to this.

The widespread use of computers and the ease of surfing on the Internet have made pornography widely available and even acceptable for self-comfort. Women, as well as men, become pornography users and find themselves trapped in addictive behaviours, with sexualized imaginations that they feel helpless to control and get any healing from. Talk about a lifestyle of demoralizing hiddenness! Some of you are trapped in that lifestyle and feel helpless.

We also, in the area of self-comfort, look inappropriately for comfort in relationships. We justify moving beyond the boundaries that God has set. We begin to personally reset the boundaries of these relationships based on our feelings and need for love and intimacy; based on the fact that we might have been wounded or hurt or abused, and are looking for love. In our quest for comfort and ease, anything can become an addiction – video games, hours of anonymity in chat rooms, the shop-till-you-drop syndrome – you name it.

The Idolatry of Self-Empowerment or Self-Reliance

Perhaps the biggest object of worship among North Americans is money – not just money, but all the things that money can buy. I know – I had all the gadgets. Rampant consumerism, yes, but even more than that, the intangible things that money buys: the things that bring you in among the world's privileged, educated, and elite. Things that would create you to be an elitist.

And all of this occurs to the point that we feel entitled. We feel entitled to have choices, to have a sense of freedom, to live without limits and boundaries. It's not even enough that we have food: we would find it confining, boring, to eat the same foods at every meal. We like it that we can choose Italian, Chinese, pizza, hamburgers, or French, or go out for Thai food.

We feel entitled when we want to travel to distant countries and cultures – so that we might be people of broad understanding and experience. Never mind that some people in our world have such limited means that in a lifetime, they never go beyond the borders of their town.

We feel entitled to leisure time and to be entertained endlessly, to have prosperity in the present and security in the future. We may even set arbitrary hours we will work. Some of us won’t even work a full-time job, because we’ve decided we can have leisure when we want. We can have a reflective life when we want. And those might not be God’s decisions.

Men and Women, I call you this evening to repentance. I call you to soften your hearts. We need to turn from the idols that enslave us, that demonize us, dehumanize us, and degrade us, and return to the living God. We need to turn from the illusory kingdom of self to the very real and substantial Kingdom of God.

What does repentance consist of? I took an eight-year detour from the commitment and plans I made at Urbana. God was infinitely patient and loving, and caring with me along the way. He made repentance possible for me. Tonight, friends, he’s making repentance possible for you.

Relationship with Jesus was worth making the changes in my life. I had to pay a cost, but it was worth it and it is still is worth it. Because as you let go of an idol in your life, a void is left. And friends, Jesus wants to come and fill that void. Jesus came and filled the void in my life, as I began to lay some of these idols down. Because idols only fill the area of a deeper need.

There are three steps involved in repentance.

1. Decide to follow Jesus.

The Rich Ruler was asked to sell what he had, give to the poor, and to follow Jesus. I knew the decision for me was to choose for God and God alone – relationship with Him; to no longer straddle being a citizen of two worlds, two realities, and two kingdoms. I needed to break from my compartmentalized world. God took me to Colombia, South America, an unfamiliar place, where my faith was made even more alive with the friendship and love of Colombian university students. Over a period of time, I decided to follow Jesus with my whole life. I needed to be there, to be untangled from all the idols that were limiting my relationship with God.

2. Pursue healing of the consequences of idolatry.

Idolatry leaves appetites and values that need reversing, injuries and sickness that need healing. The process of healing from idolatry for me included me saying no to a marriage with a non-Christian boyfriend – which was one of the most painful things I did in my early twenties. He had already made the decision that from what he understood of God and His Kingdom, he did not want to buy into a commitment to God. And he sure did not want a wife whose relationship with God might interfere with his sense of marriage priorities. And so, we parted from each other. That parting was painful. But in the void that he filled in my life, God brought in his love and care for me.

3. Walk in obedience and community.

New decisions of commitment need to be lived out. We are no longer to take our orders for life from the matrix of self, from idols that claim to be reality. We look to Jesus, whose commands we begin to delight in. We love to be set within God’s boundaries. We are shaped by His Word and we begin to be led by the Spirit of Jesus. We walk in the Jesus Way, giving ourselves to participation in Jesus' Mission, in community with the companions that He gives us. He never leaves us alone.

In summary, there are three steps to repentance:

1. Decide to follow Jesus. And when you decide, tell your group or friends. Share it with someone. 2. Pursue healing of the consequences of idolatry. Some of you are gripped by some of the things I’ve said tonight. Start here. Have some friends pray for you. God to the prayer ministry rooms tomorrow. 3. Walk in obedience and community - commit to a fellowship that desires spiritual growth.

Friends, I did pay a cost to make these changes, but it was worth it, and it is still worth it all. I put aside self-glory, and my plans for fulfillment in God's hands. I allowed Him to bring fulfillment in my life, and he has more than done that. I put aside comfort found only in relationships and possessions, to be loved and comforted by Jesus. I put aside my self-reliance or independence to be relying on God and the community of God.

What are the idols that rule your life? How long will you run after idols and substitutions for Jesus’ love, direction and purpose? Respond now to him and turn them over to Jesus and embrace this true reality. I can tell you, if you’re afraid, take this step. I was afraid, and Jesus came and filled that void.

Remember three of us came to Urbana with good intentions to follow God. Two of us left trapped by false realities. Will you deal with God tonight? Will you put your life in His hands? Amen.

* I thank God for the gracious opportunity to have been part of the 20,000-plus audience listening to this in late 2003 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

La Vecchia Signora Obasanjo

2006-05-16T18:54:00.000+03:00

Nigerians have given him his dues....

Da Vinci Code lecture in London

2006-05-15T19:50:00.000+03:00

With the launch of the controversial film this week, hear the lecture at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity by Dr Ken
Boa on 'Unravelling the Da Vinci Code'.
CDs and Cassettes available for £5 incl P&P.
For your copy, please call LICC on 020 7399 9555.
To read
Mark Greene on The Da Vinci Code please click http://www.licc.org.uk/articles/article.php/id/130

Pray, who will help "Mrs. Savimbi?"

2006-05-15T08:03:00.000+03:00

I rarely blog about Kenyan and international politics, but apparently someone someplace still recognizes my passion for politics and history...and the memories I still harbour of some African historical figures. The late Jonas Savimbi has a place on that list, as I followed his personal, political and military life closely. Nothing, in consequence, beats my list of top fraud e-mails than this one that I just received from a person - probably a Nigerian - who is claiming to be his wife. Help her, if you may :-)

Subject:  Mrs. Nancy Savimbi (Angola Unita)

My Dear Friend

I am Mrs.Savimbi, the wife to the late Jonas Savimbi,   the late leader
of the national Union for The Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). My
husband was killed during combat action against government forces in
Mexico, Angola on the 22nd of Feb. 2002.

I am contacting you because of my need to deal with person whom my
family had no previous relationship.Since the death of my husband, my
family has been subjected to all sorts of harassment and intimidation with
lots of negative report emanating from the government of President
Santos about my husband.

The present government has also ensured that all our bank accounts are
frozen, and all assets sized.It is in view of this that I seek your
assistance in investing and managing the sum of Seventy five Million
United State Dollars in your country, being the very last of my family funds
in my possession and control unknown to the government.This money now
in question came as a result of Diamond Royalties that was paid to my
late husband from the Diamond mining within the areas in Angola being
controlled by (UNITA) for more than a decade.

The money was packed in a sealed trunk box and was depositd
Security/Finance Company in Spain.Right now, the present government has
intensified their probe on my family's financial resources; frozen all our known
foreign & local accounts, revoked Diamond licenses, and even detained
my son (Charles) on alleged flimsy charges just because my husband
before his death was the head of UNITA.Bearing in mind that your assistance
is needed to transfer this money, I propose a commission of 10% (Ten
Percent) of the total sum to you or your company for the expected
services and assistance.

Please reply me through this email address below for security reasons:
nancysavimbi@myway.com


I await your prompt response to commence the transaction process.


Mrs.Nancy Savimbi
nancysavimbi@myway.com

Photo credit / BBC Online

"Fans say goodbye to the West Wing"

2006-05-14T00:14:00.000+03:00

The last season of my best political drama returned on NTV a few Sundays ago, but it's being aired for the last time in the US in just under 12 hours. I'm a little of both a Rep and a Dem at heart, so I'm not certain I'll join either side in reacting to the show's demise; what I'll do is that I'll be among the number that will miss everything good there has been about the show. I mourned John Spencer as though he was working for me (I was among the fans that rushed to write a tribute to him on the BBC website). And I watched with keen interest, in my free time during the Democract's in-house slugfests in 2003 and part of 2004 when I was still across the pond, as Martin Sheen stumped the vote for the liberals. The plot spoilers I have been getting from the US have not been enough to dampen my interest in the episode that's currently running on NTV. I have been waiting to see someone come up with more or less a similar thriller in Kenya...something that will transcend the somewhat faded Reddykyulass and Intrukalass attempt at political comedy. It is getting painful to laugh at our politics each day the Lord lends me breath. *Photo credit / BBC Online.

Full text of press releases following attack on Hope FM

2006-05-13T17:29:00.000+03:00

I have just returned after spending much of the day at the Nairobi Pentectostal Church and Hope FM studios, interviewing folks and seeing for myself the extent of the damage after last night's attacks on the radio station. As it turned out, one of the guards killed had previously worked at the university I attended and had been one of my key news sources in my days as the Editor-in-Chief of a student newspaper; I left when they were washing his blood out of the enquiries room he was manning at the time of the attack. Consequently, I'm a little messed up emotionally to do a sober and objective story on this incident (despite the volume of quality info and photos before me from a variety of sources and the interviews I carried out), so I've opted not to write anything about the incident apart from just passing on the following press releases (the ones I could get). 1. FULL TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE FROM HOPE FM MANAGEMENT At around 10:30 pm on Friday 12th May, 2006, 93.3 Hope FM studio was petrol bombed by some masked armed men. After gaining entrance they tied and shot dead one of the guards manning the main gate, and injured two others, who are recuperating in the hospital. They then proceeded to the Hope FM studio and forcefully gained entrance into the studio. After a scuffle with the staff who were on their way out, they fired a shot, switched off the station and petrol bombed the facility. We thank the police, Group 4 Security, Patriotic Guards and the Fire Brigade who arrived immediately in response to the alarm and helped to contain the situation. The relevant government security teams are carrying out investigations. We would like to assure our members and the general public that the station is up and running. The plans to launch national coverage are also on course. We take this opportunity to express our deep felt condolences and sympathy to the family of our guard and wish a quick recovery to the two in hospital. We condemn the taking away of innocent lives and the wanton destruction of private property. We are deeply concerned by a culture of intolerance by those who may not agree with each other especially in the media. Killing the messenger does not and will not kil the message. Although the enemy meant to do evil, it is our conviction that the Lord will turn this evil around for His glory. CHRIST IS THE ANSWER MINISTRIES, 13 MAY, 2006. 2. FULL TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MEDIA OWNERS' ASSOCIATION Media Owners' Association condemns the act of violence against Hope FM, yesterday at 10:30 pm, that caused one death and injuries to innocent people; and we convey our sincere condolences to the family. We ask for people not to speculate on the reason of the attack and request the police and government to speed up investigation and bring to book those who have perpetrated this heinous act. We appeal to all religious leaders in the country to continue praying for the country and preach peace, tolerance, harmony and co-existence as brothers and sisters. We are civilized society and those who have orchestrated this act of thuggery should know they have no place in this country. At this moment, we appeal for calm and understanding among Kenyans. We should not take advantage of this sad event or engage in reckless sensationalism. MOA will continue to advocate the essence of media freedom and responsibility. Signed by: Kanja Waruru, MOA CHAIRPERSON. 13/05/2006 3. FULL TEXT OF PRESS RELEASE FROM THE KENYA UNION OF JOURNALISTS (THE WING LED BY MR. DAVID MATENDE; I SAW THE WING THAT'S LED BY MR. EZEKIEL MUTUA STANDING ALONGSIDE THE MEDIA OWNERS' ASSOCIATION). On behalf of the newly registered officials of the Kenya Union of Journalists, I wish to condemn the attack on the premises of Hope FM, carried out by armed thugs. We in the media are concerned about the rising number of incidents involving affronts on the media. We are further alarmed at the government's failure to act decisively on these cases, some of which its own agent have been behind. Whatever the station did to warrant this attack is immaterial. What concerns us is the way the law is disregarded with impunity. We hereby demand: a). An immediate statement from the Minister for Internal Security on the attack on Hope FM. b). The protection of all media houses and journalists against organized attacks by people who may not be happy with what the media does. c). Repeal of laws that hamper journalists' work including the Official Secrets Act. This Act has led to an intense friction between the desire of the government to control information and the media struggle to inform the public. Should the state fail to act on these demands, we will consider other avenues of making them listen to the media's cries, including organizing a strike. Meanwhile, the Kenya Union of Journalists wishes to congratulate Mr. Ezekiel Oira on his appointment as the Managing Director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. We also wish to thank the outgoing Managing Director Wachira Waruru for his contribution to professionalising the state broadcaster, including hiring new talent. Mr. Waruru oversaw reforms at KBC that has improved news presentation and brought new programmes to make the station competitive. We wish him well as the MD of the Kenya Film Censorship Board. We hope Mr. Oira will continue the reforms introduced by Mr. Waruru who told the government that KBC will no longer be a propaganda tool, and that the station is there to serve all Kenyans and not just those in power. Thank you. Signed by: David Matende, CHAIRMAN. 13/05/2006

Nairobi radio station petrol bombed

2006-05-13T11:52:00.000+03:00

Via Nationmedia Hooded men attacked a Christian radio station in Nairobi last night shooting dead a guard and leaving the studio partly burnt from a petrol bomb.

Hope FM, run by the Nairobi Pentecostal Church came under attack at about 10.30pm Kenya time, soon after a programme that discusses Christianity and Islam had been aired.

Two people were seriously injured and were rushed to the Kenyatta National Hospital. They both suffered gun shot wounds.

The programme's presenter Damian Moses Ndimbo escaped with a bullet grazing his finger after he fought off one of the attackers.

"He was pointing a pistol at my head and when he cocked I knew I had to fight for my life. I deflected his hand just as he pressed the trigger. I then kicked him, he fell down and I ran back inside shouting. The station technician sensed danger and switched off the lights," Ndimbo told Nationmedia.com.

Ndimbo said the attackers followed him inside but could not trace them with the lights off. "They then went to the main studio and switched us off air," he added.

The gang of four had shot two night guards to gain entry into the church compound and were busy splashing petrol onto the reception area when the presenter showed up on his way home.

The Nairobi fire brigade were called in to put off fire at the scene.

Police officer John Ngare, in charge of operations at Kilimani police station said a pistol has been recovered at the scene.

Mr Ngare said that the attackers appeared to have carried two jerricans of a liquid which they used to set the building ablaze. Police are still carrying out investigations.

The station’s reception area has been badly damaged with burnt furniture strewn all over. However, the fire did not get to the main studio.

*Nation has done such a good brief on it that there is no need for me to rehash the story. If I get any new angles to it, I sure will do something about it. As for the photos, my camera is off-duty...if I get them by any other means, you sure will have them here too.

The "Son of So Many Tears"

2006-05-12T18:58:00.000+03:00

Via Breakpoint..... This upcoming Sunday is Mother's Day. It's the day when Americans remember and celebrate the contributions and sacrifices their moms have made on their behalf.

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to tell you a story about one mother whose devotion shaped not only her son's life but countless others, as well.

Her name was Monica. A Christian, she was married to a prominent man who wasn't a believer. He was unfaithful and even beat her at times. Monica's response was to go to church every day and pray for his conversion. She hoped that by setting a godly example, even in the midst of her mistreatment, she might win him over. And that's exactly what happened.

The suffering and anguish caused by her husband paled before what Monica's oldest son put her through. He lived a dissolute life, devoted to pleasure. He left one mistress and took up with another. His only son was born out-of-wedlock.

His lack of faith and rejection of Christian truth hurt Monica even more. He belittled her beliefs and seemed to go out of his way to embrace Christianity's competitors for the hearts and, especially, minds of his contemporaries. He later recalled how his being "dead [to] that faith and spirit which," as he put it, "[my mother] had from you . . . O, Lord" made her weep.

Still, Monica never gave up. The greatest preacher of the time, knowing of her prayers and tears for her son, told her that "it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish."

That preacher, Bishop Ambrose of Milan, was right. At the age of 35, Monica's son, Augustine, became a Christian and was baptized, along with his son, Adeodatus, by Ambrose. A few months later, on the way home to Hippo with Augustine and Adeodatus, Monica fell ill and died.

Monica could not have known that her prayers and devotion would affect not only the life of her son but also the course of history. Her concern was that her son believe "the truth which is in Jesus."

This devotion to the spiritual welfare of her son is why Monica is regarded as the model for all Christian mothers. Like Susannah Wesley, her zeal for the salvation of her son had an impact far beyond anything she could have imagined.

But there's another reason why Monica's story should resonate with "BreakPoint" listeners and readers. Her concern was not only that her son give up his debauchery, as important as that was. Monica was determined that he embrace the truth of Christianity. She prayed that he would renounce false worldviews and put his sharp mind to the service of Christian truth.

And that's exactly what he did. Augustine championed the Christian worldview against the false alternatives of his day. Much of what Christians believe today was first and best articulated by Monica's son. His writings, the Confessions and the City of God, are considered classics, not only of the Christian faith, but also of all of Western culture and civilization. Those books have profoundly shaped me and my ministry.

While there can be only one Monica and Augustine, every Christian mother—and father, for that matter—should be concerned with their kids' worldviews. Praying for them and teaching them to seek after Christian truth is a solemn duty on our part and a contribution they will always remember, whether it is Mother's Day or any other day of the year.

*Photo credit / Wikipedia

Of Bird Flu in Djibouti and a bankrupt Pan-African Parliament

2006-05-12T18:08:00.000+03:00

This post was inspired by Tanzanian blogger Msangi at a time when I had been rather lazy to catch up on the news. Click here for details of the post as published on my Swahili blog. *Photo credit / My mama (taken outside the house)

Behind the Da Vinci Code and other resources

2006-05-12T00:25:00.000+03:00

Murder in the Louvre, a religious mystery. The movie, based on Dan Brown's controversial bestseller, opens May 19. Follow detailed coverage here. ALSO: a). Breaking the Da Vinci Code b). Thanks, Da Vinci Code c). How a ludicrous book can become an opportunity to engage the culture d). Get complete Da Vinci coverage: Sign up for Hot Topics Newsletter RELATED RESOURCES: a). Was Jesus married? Free handout answers 5 big questions b). Bible studies and courses c). Preaching tools FURTHER RESOURCES: Behind the Da Vinci Code The Gospel Code vs. The Da Vinci Code (with a free audio book) The Da Vinci Code: What is true and what is not? (with free downloads) From: Christianity Today

Salvation just became "easier"

2006-05-11T18:04:00.000+03:00

Click here for details. I'm also keeping that link on my homepage (just underneath KENYAN & WORLD MEDIA) in the event that you or anyone else you know will need it in the days to come.

Phase 5 of responses to "The death of Satan"

2006-05-11T12:51:00.000+03:00

By MATTHEW & CRYSTAL KEHN Let's start by saying this. The world is fallen, the Church is fallen, and all people are fallen. We must be careful to not judge others and find that we are condemning ourselves. Nathan told David a story, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor. The rich man had many cattle and sheep, while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him. One day a visitor arrived at the rich man's home. The rich man didn't want to kill one of his own animals to fix a meal for him; instead, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal for his guest." David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die! For having done such a cruel thing, he must pay back four times as much as he took." "You are that man," Nathan said to David." David immediately burned for justice and found himself guilty. Many days I burn for justice in the world, in politics, in the desparate situations where people are being exploited and oppressed - but in the end find myself guilty. I think if we are honest about Bush, he has used his Christendom as a platform for votes and support on the basis of morality rather than a true, real and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus never came to make us moral - He came to give us His righteousness and calls us to pursue HIM not the Law/Morality. Christians who support him only on the basis of his 'faith' are falling prey to the neo-cons' desire for personal power through religious lingo (It happens in Kenya, Uganda and all over the world, people use Christianity for their own personal gain). Bush's Christianity is religion, law, morality - like the pharisees who thought they had it all together. It is not his faith that has affected his decisions, but his religion. One only needs to weed through history to see the fallen diplomatic policies that the US, not only Bush, has used to take advantage of others. For example: supporting and enabling dictatorial governments in South American countries. What strikes me most about the US's foreign policy is SELFISHNESS. Ethnocentrism spills over from every act and decision. "What does not benefit the US is useless!" Look again to the story of Nathan. The US is the rich man, most Third World countries are the poor man. We have seen this scenario many times throughout the history of the US. I have also seen it in my own life. My overwhelming selfishness is the root of all my sin. It creeps up from the very nature of who I am into all areas of my life. If I, being saved by Jesus as a sinner, judge and condemn selfish acts among others, I must first confess them myself. Therefore I now stand on the same side as Bush, the US, the rich man, and David. We are all fallen, the world needs Jesus Christ. Putting more "Christians" in politics and leadership of nations will not redeem the world. Redemption only comes when you put Jesus Christ as the Leader and President of your individual life. He asks you to count the cost, destroy your selfishness, carry the cross, be crucified with Him and follow Him for the rest of your life. I will journey with anyone who is on this road. *Editor's note: Matt and his wife are serving God in Uganda. I happen to have been roomies with Matt at college and also attended Urbana 2003 wih him at the University of Illinois (where again we shared a residence hall). He is a man who truely loves God and I treasure his reflections on matters of life and faith, our agreements and disagreements over the same notwithstanding. Backgrounder to this series of reflections Original article Phase 1 of responses to the article Phase 2 of responses to the article Phase 3 of responses to the article Phase 4 of responses to the article

Church in Zurich, Switzerland

2006-05-10T20:35:00.000+03:00

Grace, a Kenyan living in Switzerland, has written in to say The Path of Life is a Church in Zurich which anyone visiting Switzerland might find useful. That has led me into starting 3 different rolls on my homepage for possible places in Kenya, Europe and the US that one could go to for Sunday services. I'll add to the lists under the rolls as and when I receive more suggestions from you; I'll generally be guided by the extent and proportion to which the Church you suggest is seeking to live out the faith through its vision and mission. Any congregation that resonates with my statement of faith will be a natural add-on.

Online Kalenjin music and dialogues

2006-05-10T10:09:00.000+03:00

By KIP This is to inform you that there is a new episode on my podcast. Help me spread the word, if you may. Also visit the online Kalenjin discussion forum. Thanks.

Phase 4 of responses to "The death of Satan"

2006-05-09T10:07:00.000+03:00

By A.M, American living in Kenya

Thanks, Jesse for the backgrounder.
You know, I wouldn't disagree with criticisms of Bush's Iraq policy at all.
My point was just that it's a different thing to say somebody's religion doesn't affect their politics (i.e. it has no
real power in their lives) and to say it affects their politics but we don't agree with them (i.e. their religion has power in the lives but
they've interpreted the mandates of their religion in a way we don't like.)
I think many politicians both Kenyan and American fall into the first category. Islamic terrorists for most of us fall into the second.
George W. Bush falls into the second for around half of the U.S. and most of the rest of the world, though as I have said not for me in
terms of much of his domestic policy emphasis.
For some people he is in a third category, that of people whose religion makes a difference in their politics and the difference is viewed as good.
I did not mention in the previous message that one other thing I do appreciate is his insistence that for the first time in a long time in the U.S. political arena, faith based organizations should not have to give up their
distinctives in order to be considered legitimate providers of social and medical services.

Backgrounder
Original article
Phase 1 of responses to the article
Phase 2 of responses to the article
Phase 3 of responses to the article

This also happens to have been my last assignment for now as a guest editor. Thanks for reading.
- Z.M.

Elvis' struggles with God & other issues....

2006-05-08T15:46:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago Mama Mia blogged on Elvis Presley's spiritual side; that in large part inspired me to dig into my CD archives for an interesting presentation made on the legendary singer by Dr. Ravi Zacharias, one of the leading apologists in contemporary Christianity. Mama Mia has since had the opportunity to listen to the CD and should therefore be in a position to give you her own assesment of the content. But Dr. Zacharia's presentation does, in large part, remind me of the woeful tales of countless men and women of reknown who, down the ages, have in their later years or on deathbeds been confronted by the reality and supremacy of a Holy God they had denied all along at the height of their power, wisdom or other forms of accomplishment and, sometimes, even pain. In the MYSTERY OF EVIL AND THE MIRACLE OF LIFE, Dr. Zacharias (I'm quoting the CD jacket here) "examines how the Gospel comes in contradiction to our existential struggles - struggles of human wickedness and the hunger for something greater than this world. He traces the origin of evil and particularly the lure of sin placed before Adam and Eve when Satan made God's truth suspect....(he) examines our hunger for fulfillment of needs that God alone is big enough to fill and offers a challenge to surrender the human will to God's control." In excellent, well-polished arguments, Dr. Zacharias puts forth his case......here are some excerpts...be sure to get yourself a copy of the hour-long CD.....that way or by contacting his office. - "All human beings, whether studied or unstudied in philosophy, ultimately look for their lives to conform to reality as they understand it whether it is right or wrong. If they know that fire burns, they will avoid putting their hand there unless they are purely....suicidal. They want their lives and bodies to correspond to that which is real so that even if they don't use logic or reason, they want their lives to be consistent with reality." - "The reason there is a breakdown (in society) is not even so much that rational strength and the ability to think has been abandoned but our lives are beaking down because we don't understand what reality is all about...what I would like to show you is where this breakdown is coming in and how the Gospel is then coming in contradiction to the world of existentialist struggles...I think you'll find it extremely meaningful." - He then devotes some good amount of time to German philosopher F. Nietzsche and Irish literary icon Oscar Wilde, two very significant atheistic figures that died in 1900, though he is lots more detailed on the latter. You would have to listen to him so as to feel the passion, candour, intensity and wit with which he dissects Wilde the literary genius and debauched gay playboy. He does a critique of Wilde's well known novel - The Picture of Dorian Gray - and notes: "In his (own) life, he denuded the body, but in his novel.....he bared, I think, his soul." - He then quotes some dissilusioned scholars who, despairing at the frustrations emerging from the weaknesses of secularism, are now suggesting that "the world desperately needs a noble lie" so as to survive its troubles. He quotes one of them as saying "modern culture urgently needs a noble lie....a myth that links the moral teachings of religion with the scientific facts of life. Science has eroded the plausibility of the Judeo-Christian myths...including archaic views of the universe, a presumption that humans are at the center of existence, and the stories of Jesus' ressurection and Moses bringing the 10 commandments from the mountain...these are pure myths." Dr. Zacharias then goes on: "This tells you the unabashed seduction of secular thought knows having abandoned reason, existential life becomes unliveable....how are they going to solve the dillemma...dispel the myths of religion and all you are left with is despair which considers life in the universe meaningless." - Having said that, he then delves into what he considers to be the four struggles of existentialism (here is a general summary). a). The mystery of human wickedness: What does evil really mean? He argues that evil means you and I can define reality apart from God; that's the lie we have been tempted to live by (as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden). They chose to make God a liar. Evil is the natural outworking of a lie; "it's as simple as that but also catastrophic." b). The marvel of humanity's hunger for worship: There's a deep longing within each one of us; there's a beyond in us that goes beyond the scope of romantic love, the stars, etc. There's a haunting sense of emptiness which no human or anything else can satisfy. It is at this point that Dr. Zacharias recalls a conversation he says he once had with one of the people related to Elvis Presley following the singer's death from a supposed addiction to prescription drugs, leaving his family distraught and the world of teenagers shaken that its icon had died. What was it that drove the man? The Elvis buddy is then quoted as saying: "All I know is that with all the women he had screaming for him and all the fame he had before him, (Elvis) was an extremely lonely man. He said that he cried with loneliness...the song that I believe he meant more deeply than any other but a song that he could not appropriateas as far as the outworld world knew is one I saw him singing in Las Vegas before a crowd of gamblers and drinking people....when he told them I want to sing to you you a song that deeply moves me....and he sang How Great Thou Art...and his audience was in spell-bound silence...many times when I bid him goodnight as I was the last one to leave him every night...he would be at the piano singing hymns. He really hungered for something greater than the world was giving him." Dr. Zacharias then proceeds, using Psalms 42:1-11 as a basis, to argue that "the hunger that even the blatant secularist has he cannot explain....it conflicts existentially and God fills it." c). The mastery of the human will - He argues that's where the collision really takes place. He gives two excellent illustrations of media mogul Ted Turner and Alexander the Great for a point to which you just need to listen so as to understand. Of the latter, he says that "the problem with Alexander the Great is that he was his own worst rival." d). The miracle of existence itself - He begins to wind up his presentation by quoting an atheist who has said that "the greatest gift in our generation to our children and posterity is that we have released them (our kids) from the fear of the supernatural." Dr. Zacharias then bemoans what he says is the overestimation of the power of miracles by Christians and the underestimation of the same by skeptics. He says: "Our hearts have determined to stay course in those paths....but there's a miracle the world is still looking for....not just an answer to origins but something that will change the enslavement within. The truth is true objectively, though appropriated subjectively. God's truth is the one we all yearn for from the deepest of our insides." He then winds it up by saying: "In this existential struggle, God's word is true. Let's do this generation a favour by defending this because the word of God conforms to reality and our lives must conform to reality too. May God bless you and I trust His word will become true in your life. If you don't know Him, I hope you'll find His definition of reality; if you know Him let's live for the truth. God bless you."

The other woman that I called "Mum"

2006-05-07T23:57:00.000+03:00

This piece was largely inspired by WM's writing about her mum a few days ago.....as well as that of AK about one of her lecturers......it's about a woman I lost to cancer a little early in life, but one whose impact on my life has defied the passage of time. I met Mrs. R in my first term at elementary school. She had obviously seen better days but still affected an easy demeanor as she immediately put me at ease. "My son, I hope you realize that we are going to have to be good friends now that your parents have put you under my watch for the next three years," she said, her face laced with a warm smile. And there began an exciting relationship between us. A devout Roman Catholic teaching in a public school that was heavily influenced by trends in the local Catholic community, she never utilized this position of double priveledge to lord it over us towards Rome; Protestants like myself had our best of times with regard to religious instruction in the school, it was always either about the crucified and risen Jesus or no C.R.E at all. That, I would think, was one of her major contributions to my person for never again would I encounter such deep and solid Christian instruction in elementary school as I did under her tutelage. I'm grateful she never allowed our denominational differences to cloud over the Jesus we both shared an enduring interest in. Her second contribution would have to be her motherly, personalized oversight over me in her class of several pupils. Perhaps at no other time did I see this so well illustrated than once when I fell ill in her class and, on another occasion, some girls tried to distract me during her Maths class. For the illness, she took the liberty to end the class (a dangerous thing to do in those days of mutual national suspicion that could have seen her fired for ending her class even a minute earlier) and send for my Mum who was some 10 kilometres away; her gesture touched the sickly me so much that I yearned to heal faster and return to her class (of course my Mum would have none of that). For the girls, the romantic note they were throwing across to me fell flat on her desk.......the girl who had written it wanted to disappear from planet earth that very moment. Mrs. R opened and went over the poorly written love letter from the girl, looked at her and her large supporting cast, then calmly said: "My dear boys and girls, let's talk about this at break time." Come break time and the kids that we were gathered around her for a nice, gentle lecture on sexual education.....the girl harassed me no more. I do not recall other teachers ever doing what Mrs. R had just done for the entire time I went through primary school and high school; what I instead recall are the several lives and promising futures that quite literally perished under the care of some randy male and female teachers in the schools I attended. Incidentally, I registered my best performance in Maths under Mrs. R because the moment I left her tutelage (Standard 1 through 3), I fell into the hands of men and women who convinced me that Maths meant nothing but Mental-Agony-To-Harass-Students. Her third and not least important contribution in my life came in the way of education, - it was in her able hands that I developed an insatiable thirst for knowledge, skills and values; she gave me and everyone else in her class the very best. Her teaching was so good that we perfomed just as well; one of the most talked about myths and legends in that school to date is the academic rivalry among several families in the area that emerged as a result of pupils in Mrs. R's stream (East) battling it out with those in a Mrs. T's class (West). Thanks to Mrs. R, I ended up becominng a lightning rod for some of these rivalries....the records of which I hear remain ubeaten in some of the subjects that she had been careful to teach as so well. Sadly, Mrs. R succumbed to a deadly cancer we never knew she had just at about the same moment as some of us were celebrating our entry into high school; obviously the steely bit in her had denied us access to her inner pains and struggles all through. For those among us to whom she had become a Mum away from home, we had lost much more than a teacher. Her memory is still fresh in my mind and the classes she took me through are ever before me; I took to doing some volunteer teaching after my post-secondary education at another primary school in the subjects I enjoyed the most with her, if only to become the part-time teacher I think she had inspired me to become. Looking back, I think the pupil in me had enjoyed her too much to even consider giving anything back to her in the way of love, - a love that perhaps she needed all the while she taught us. But as her pupils are all the rage these days turning the country and world upside down the best they know how, I can think of no better tribute to Mrs. R to have survived her years of immense toil and little pay from the government of the day (a situation many other Rs still have to bear to date). *Publication of this piece was delayed a little because of the responses we had coming in on one of our earlier posts. Publication of those responses will resume sometime on Wednesday after another piece on the late Elvis Presley. - Z.M, Guest Editor.

Phase 3 of responses to "The death of Satan"

2006-05-05T16:07:00.000+03:00

By KENYAN IDIOT You made my day today. I will choose to ignore the Americans and their Bush in this debate as they'll do and say anything to defend him: I saw that with my lecturers during their last general elections. But I will not hesitate to say that Bush's policies, at least those that I know of (the international ones), are nowhere near Christocentrism. To argue that the Iraq situation is a Christian motivation is a display of ignorance of the fundamental principles that guide christianity. Christianity is not defended with arms and neither does God need lawyers (am not downplaying the place of apologetics, for I'm an apologist) to chant His cause. He will and has always done it for Himself, over 2,000 years of Christianity is itself an attestation of that. If the "Christian" Bush is is concerned about the spread of Islam let him resort to prayer and Godly living and not war. And I think this is the point Jesse is putting across: that the so-called Christian leaders have failed to lead with the Biblical principles aptly put forth...and that some non-Christian leaders have done a better job. The bone of contention is about the leaders whose policies, decisions and actions have raised questions as to whether they are indeed Christians in the first place. These are the kind of "Christian leaders" Kenya has had. In Africa, we have the Chilubas and worldwide we have the Bushes, among others. The so-called-leaders were, in large part, elected on the platform of Christianity... that since they were Christians they would bring positive Christian change, only for them to add negativity to what is already a bad situation. I am an evangelical believer and do not believe in an utopia BUT still much can be deduced from individual responsibility such as the Christian Bush causing the massive loss of life in Iraq. *The writer blogs at Mapinduzi on various matters of faith. This was in response to the piece published on Christians and how they are engaging national issues in Kenya a few days ago by Jesse. The first and second part of responses by some readers to that piece can be found on this blog as well as Jesse's Swahili one. - Z.M, Guest Editor.

Phase 2 of responses to "The death of Satan"

2006-05-04T23:34:00.000+03:00

This post has been culled from incoming comments and correspondence following an article by Jesse on this blog on Wednesday. The first part of the responses had already been published. In his absence, I bear responsibility for any content and / or editorial errors. - Z.M, Guest Editor.

*****

Jesse,

I am also born-again BUT I am of the persuasion of liberation theologians. I believe in heaven here and now, not tomorrow. I believe that Jesus came so that we may have life in full (politically, economically, socially, physically, mentally etc). For that reason, a leader who propagates separation of politics from religion will not be on my list of buddies. In Kenya we have seen many born-agains telling people to leave politics to the politicians. That to me shows they don't read their Bible well. Regarding Bush and his Christianity - speaking as an African, I say he attacked Iraq because he was a Christian. He saw that to stop the spread of Islamists who harm Christians for just being Christains, Iraq had to succumb to US might. However he did not envisage a situation where Musilims would interpret that for a crusade. The war in Iraq now is not about oil. It is Jesus versus Mohammed. Otherwise your analysis of the Kenyan scenario has hit the nail on the head.

-Pukks, Mozambique

*****

Bravo Jesse,

That was a nice piece. I hope the media fellows will quiz the Honourable members to-be and will use the forthcoming by-elections as a dress rehersal for the elections to come in 2007.

This can be done by inviting them for debates on a wide range of social and economic issues to assess their fitness as Honourable members of parliament. Some of them will be appointed ministers and will be answerable to not only their constituents but Kenyans as a whole. - M.O, Denmark

*****

Jesse, I like your write up; it's challenging and true. Hebu soma Amos 5:20-24, I kinda think it suffices for what I thought of the National Prayer day.

I pray that u become an MP nxt year, ama? It will be a turning point, I admire your convictions........

Take care n always praying for you.

- D.O, Kenya

*****

Jesse, Thanks for the work you are doing. Keep it up. Tuko pamoja. - J.K, Kenya.

*****

Jesse, I really appreciate these pieces. As I said, I look forward to being able to contribute on issues raised. Blessings Man! - K.K, Kenya

Phase 1 of responses to "The death of Satan"

2006-05-04T09:52:00.000+03:00

This is the balance of thoughts received thus far which merited publication as articles on their own rather than as merely comments to the piece published by Jesse a few hours ago. Other comments will be published as they are received and considered. - Z.M, Guest Editor.

*****

Jesse, I would have to disagree about George Bush. I will not dispute that his foreign policy, except for the commitment to a large block of money to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa, is objectionable. However, domestically it appears to me that his Christianity has made a great difference in his decision making. He stands firmly against abortion, he has attempted to put into place stringent guidelines regarding embryonic stem cell research based on that conviction, he is pushing abstinence as a solution to HIV prevention, he has opened up immigration in the U.S., especially with regards to persons already living in the country illegally (though admittedly not Arab ones) more than any president in recent memory. Now, one can argue that he is not correct on some of his positions, but that his Christianity has impacted his domestic policy in a noticeable way is not arguable. Nor, may I point out, would most of his opponents in the U.S. make that argument. They would assert that he is wrong--possibly because of his faith--but not that his faith has not impacted his stands on issues. I do some research in the area of HIV/AIDS, and I can assure you that persons involved in that field do not think George W. Bush's faith has not made a difference--they think it has made a very strong, negative difference (I happen to be very appreciative of his stance on abstinence, though I'm less convinced that his administration's position downgrading the importance of the media in fighting HIV/AIDS is useful. But then again I would not think that position springs from faith convictions). That is the main reason why, despite the fact that it is clearly in the descendency, many persons on the opposite side of the political spectrum are excruciatingly vocal in expressing their fears that the conservative Christian ideology is taking over American politics. - A.M, American living in Kenya.

******

It's alright with you barbing at Bush; you were quoting.

Incidentally, I doubt very much that he would have made even the efforts he has to deal with things like AIDS in Africa, genocide in Sudan or (certainly) an attempt, however faltering, to bring about democracy in the Middle East without his Christian faith. That being said, there are many politicians of the type you describe here.

A good piece of advice on this matter is to compare the political action of Chuck Colson with that of Jerry Fallwell. Colson writes the Breakpoint web column, which always makes for good daily reading. I recommend it to anyone. - A.J, Pennsylvania, USA.

The death of Satan: How Kenyans have lost a sense of evil (and why they must get it b4 2007)

2006-05-03T23:32:00.000+03:00

Let me first declare my interests in this matter, about which I had promised to write a few days ago: I'm a born-again Christian in the Reformed tradition, a son to an evangelical clergyman, a trained journalist with some experience in the local and international media, passionate about my faith as well as issues (politics included) that inform life on this planet. I also have a fairly good grasp of the Kenyan, African and global Christian landscape; gained through reading, travel and practical engagement in life with other believers. This piece has been distilled from my own thoughts on this matter as well as ideas I have gleaned from some Christian friends with whom I have been reflecting on this subject. I write this, therefore, with as much of a detached observer's skepticism as much as I'm doing so with an insider's determined anguish to redeem what I believe is a situation perfectly within our sights. At the time of this writing, I had it on good authority that a large number of Christian candidates will be contesting for parliamentary seats in next year's General Elections. Some of the prospective candidates are already in parliament, others will be doing so for the very first time; a good number of the latter are folks I either attended university with or have interacted with in Christian circles or in the media industry. In the new crop of candidates are folks I could vote for anytime anywhere, but in the same camp are folks I would rather we had others - like the Artur brothers :-) - running in their stead, democracy or no democracy. Alongside this development is the established thought in some circles, proved wrong in some constituencies and even on the presidential ballot in 2002, that there are annointed MPs for whom Kenyans should uncritically vote in 2007. The foregoing is the kind of thinking informing some of the rather weird consensus in some Christian circles that seeks to be the driving force behind some of the Christian parliamentary and presidential hopefuls. I have no problems with Christians, Muslims, Hindus or whoever else fielding candidates in the General Elections - it is within their legal rights to do so; what I'm opposed to is the possible emergence in the next Parliament of some legislators - falling in my category of persons I would rather die than vote for - who will be our bane. Those legislators-to-be have nothing, apart from their professed faith, to offer this country; they are in good company with several past and present Christian legislators and presidents whose work ethic could be called anything but productive. Those legislators-to-be have not engaged the real issues of the day in the way of a dedicated life of service and reflection; you'll find nothing to back up their talk either in any known political philosophy or paper trail documenting their contribution to the leadership of organizations or groups they have been part of.

Those legislators-to-be talk so glibly about social transformation but have never allowed their faith to - in the thoughts of Christ in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)- affect their world as they know it in any discernible way; their faith has been kept private and safe, never really pushing them out of their comfort zones much enough to disturb the status quo that puts the weak and vulnerable in our society at the mercy of the high and mighty.

Those legislators-to-be suffer from a terrible but conveniently nourished cognitive dissonance that allows them to live not as they believe, while at the same time hitting the campaign trail with the message of how much their salvation will help them transform our country. Those legislators-to-be have for their heroes the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi and President Mwai Kibaki and their large army of "Christian" political disciples - both in government and the opposition -; men and women whose record in private life and the conduct of public affairs is nothing to write home about. Those legislators-to-be will, gladly, use the state to promote Christianity while utilizing the same machinery to oppress those who will, in their estimation, be having nothing to contribute to "national cohesion, stability and development." As some Zambian pastors reportedly did when Christian President Frederick Chiluba came in, those legislators are likely to - for a social vision - ask for more land for the construction of churches, more freedom for "crusades" and, who knows, a declaration that Kenya is officially a Christian nation; all that while as Kenya goes down the gutter under whoever else they will have helped us annoint. As someone has so well noted: "The most powerful man in the world today (President George Bush) claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. Are his domestic and foreign policies any Christian? Where did we get the idea that if we had more Christians in positions of power and influence our nation would be more just and compassionate? We have 2,000 years of history to deny that." And do take this from him too: "If you have people who only think that the Gospel is about being born-again and going to Heaven when we die, pray that these people won't have positions of power in our country. Let's pray that we'll have Christians in those positions who we'll have taken time to develop a Christian, political philosophy and vision of the world. And for that you need much more than the Bible...or quoting Romans 13 and I Peter 2 as if that settles the issue. There's more than 2,000 years of profound Christian reflection on politics, beginning with that great North African called St. Augustine....rich 2,000 years of Christian political reflection, and often not done by evangelicals (and - I add - sometimes Christians in general)." These nicely dressed-up, dangerous wannabes, presenting themselves as angels of light, need not be handled with kids' gloves as has been the case in past elections. The Kenyan voter needs to refresh his or her sense of evil and vote out those who will be calling "Christ, Christ" in the campaigns and private strategy meetings yet have no real, known love for someone before whom all known and unknown history will someday culminate. He's someone whom if, as they claim, they truely believe in, would have informed their understanding of how best to make their lives a daily responsible answer to the question of God's call on their lives in our generation. *I'll see if I or anyone else can do a sequel to this. If you are interested in doing so, just holla at me via the e-mail address on my homepage. I'm terribly time-limited for now to do anything serious. By the way, a Swahili translation of this piece is available at my Swahili blog.

Basic Stott as a precursor to my piece

2006-05-02T11:01:00.000+03:00

In this cover story from 1996, evangelicalism's premier teacher speaks on gender, charismatics, leaving the Church of England, the poor, evangelical fragmentation, Catholics, the future, and other subjects. This article originally appeared as the cover story for Christianity Today's January 8, 1996, issue. As "Uncle Stott" happens to be someone I agree with on a number of theological issues, I have it here as a precursor to some piece I intend to publish in the next few days on Christians' engagement with national issues in Kenya. It's nothing earth-shaking; I hope I find the time to have it here in the next few days.

By ROY McCLOUGHRY

John Stott joins together what most people tear asunder—or at least are incapable of holding together. He is a theologian of depth and breadth, yet he preaches and writes with clarity to a wide audience. He integrates social concerns into the mission of the church without ever minimizing his commitment to evangelism. Since he was ordained in 1945, he has ministered within a mainline denomination (the Church of England), while neither compromising his convictions nor diminishing his role as an evangelical thought leader. Engaged in parish ministry for 50 years at All Souls, Langham Place, in the center of London, where he now holds the title rector emeritus, his influence among evangelicals is of international proportions.

One of Stott's enduring legacies is as the key framer of the historic Lausanne Covenant (1974), which serves almost as an evangelical apostles' creed in many Third World settings. His faithful witness to the gospel in his writings and preaching has made him mentor and friend to a global community. The author of 34 books, Stott's primer on the faith, Basic Christianity, has been translated into over 50 languages, and 22 more are in progress.

Speaking of Authentic Christianity, an anthology of his writings from the past 50 years (forthcoming from InterVarsity), evangelical historian Mark Noll serves up this accolade: "I consider John Stott the sanest, clearest, and most solidly biblical living writer on theological topics in the English language." It is difficult to dispute this assessment.

More than his books, documents, or institutions, Stott's most important legacy to the church has been his wisdom. Thoroughly biblical, disarmingly open, shrewdly discerning, Stott's thought has helped guide the evangelical movement as it engaged social concerns, the charismatic movement, female clergy, homosexuality, and challenges to core doctrines. In preparation for Stott's seventy-fifth birthday, Roy McCloughry, associate editor of the British Christian magazine Third Way, interviewed this evangelical Solomon on these and many other topics. The discussion can serve as a measure of where we are as a movement—and where we need to go.

Your ministry stretches back over 50 years. How have you changed over that time?

I was very naive when I was ordained. I was more an activist than a thinker. I saw needs and wanted immediately to meet them, and this crowded out my studies.

It was in the early days of my ministry that I learned the necessity of stepping back, looking where I was going, and having a monthly quiet day to be drawn up into the mind of God and look ahead for the next six or twelve months. That was an enormous benefit to me.

You've covered an immense range of issues in your ministry—theological, social, doctrinal, and cultural. Has that been due to curiosity or to obligation as a minister?

A bit of both. Even before my conversion, I believe that God gave me a social conscience. When I was only 14 years old, I started a society at school whose major purpose was to give baths to tramps. I had a great concern for these homeless, dirty men.

We called it the ABC, because we thought they could understand that; having decided on the letters, we had to look around for words that would fit, and we came up with two: either "Always Be a Christian" or "the Association for the Benefit of the Community." It only lasted a few years, and we never gave any baths to tramps; but we did some other good works until the treasurer loaned all the subscriptions to his brother, who spent everything.

My father was a doctor and a very high-minded, high-principled person, though not a Christian. He believed in a national health service before it was even dreamed about. My mother, too, was very concerned for the maids in the doctors' homes who had nothing to do on their afternoons off. She started the Domestic Fellowship. So they both had a social conscience.

Evangelism and Social Action

Some people might divide your ministry into two halves, one focused on pietism and one concerned with the very broadest social, cultural, and economic aspirations of society. What caused this change?

I think it was reading the Bible. As I read and studied and meditated, my vision of God grew and I came to see the obvious things: that God is not just interested in religion but in the whole of life—in justice as well as justification.

I don't see any dichotomy between the "pietistic" and social realms. To me, they're two aspects of the same thing: a pursuit of the will of God. I have always been moved by the phrase "to hunger and thirst after righteousness"; righteousness covers both personal holiness and social justice.

Some people might say that your commitment to the justice of god, expressed in social terms, led to a watering down of your commitment to the gospel.

I think that's rubbish, honestly. I remain committed to evangelism. I have had the privilege of leading more than 50 university missions all over the world, and they spanned a period of 25 years until I felt I was a little out of touch with the student generation and too old.

I can honestly say that my social concerns have not diminished my zeal for evangelism. If anything, it's the other way round. What people could say is that I talk a lot about social action but don't do much about it. And that is true, because my calling is to be a pastor. Although I disagree with polarization between these two, I've often said I do believe in specialization.

Acts 6 is the obvious biblical basis for this specialization of roles: the apostles were not willing to be distracted from the ministry of the Word and prayer. In fact, the seven were appointed to handle the care of the widows. Both those works are called diakonia, "ministry"; both required Spirit-filled people to exercise them. Both were necessary, but one was social, the other pastoral.

Don't some people fear that renewed emphasis on social concern might muffle the call to evangelism?

There are a number of mission leaders, particularly Americans, who are frightened that we want missionaries to give themselves to social-political work, which is none of their business and would distract them from their primary role in evangelism. I have no wish for missionaries to change their role. There is a real need for evangelists who are not engaged in holistic mission because their calling is evangelism. I don't criticize Billy Graham because he simply preaches the gospel and doesn't engage in social-political work—well, he does a bit, but not much—any more than we don't criticize the Good Samaritan for not preaching the gospel to the man assaulted by robbers.

It's partly our existential situation that determines what we concentrate on, partly our vocation. Everybody cannot do everything, as I keep saying to myself.

In Issues Facing Christians Today (1984), you say: "evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the gospel changes people, and changed people can change society." Isn't that really a ruggedly individualistic picture of social change?

I think that quote is from where I list four or five instruments for social change. I put evangelism first because Christian social responsibility depends on socially responsible Christians, and they are the fruit of evangelism.

Having said that, I would also want to make the complementary point that Christians are not the only people who have benefited or reformed society. We evangelicals do have a very naive view. Take marriage: people say, "They have got to be converted and then they'll have a good marriage." But there are Christians who don't have good marriages, and there are plenty of excellent marriages among people who are not Christians. Morality and social conscience are not limited to Christian people.

Why is the church so often the last to join a protest movement? The church in time might take the lead; and it may speak with the greatest integrity against jingoism or apartheid or nuclear weapons or the abuse of the environment. But these movements are often started by others.

Well, that has not always been true. The slave trade is a good example and Shaftesbury's reforms in relation to mental illness. Nevertheless, by and large what you say is true. Why? First, because we're busy; we're busy evangelizing and doing other things, mostly in the church. We don't always demand our liberty from the church in order to be active in the world.

Second, we have such a strong doctrine of fellowship and are so clear about our responsibility not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers that we have seldom learned that we can be "cobelligerents," to use Francis Schaeffer's well-known term, even if we are not in active spiritual fellowship with one another.

Some people might say that the church is simply very conservative. It only joins these movements for change under pressure from secular forces in society.

I wish it were always Christians who took the initiative in seeking needed social change. But I am still thankful when others take the initiative and Christians follow, even under secular pressure.

We must not set secular fashion and the Holy Spirit over against each other, as being always and inevitably incompatible. Public opinion isn't always wrong. What is wrong is to bow down before it uncritically, like reeds shaken by the wind. Why should the Holy Spirit not sometimes use public opinion to bring God's people into line? The Spirit seems to have done so on a number of occasions in the debate between science and faith.

What is the theological basis for Christian social involvement today? Is it enough to speak of being "salt and light"?

Start with the nature of God. God is interested in and concerned about more than religion: God is the Lord of creation and the covenant. God is the lover of justice, one who protects and champions the oppressed: this is God's nature. If this is the kind of God we have, then clearly God's people have got to be the same.

Second, there is the doctrine of human beings, of male and female made in the image of God—the unique dignity and worth of human beings. William Temple said, "My worth is what I am worth to God, and that is a marvelous great deal, because Christ died for me." And I would say that the ministry of Jesus in life and death exhibits the enormous value of human beings.

Then, I would want to back up this biblical theme with examples from history. Take Mother Teresa, for example, who sees a woman on the pavement of Calcutta with awful sores infested by live maggots. Mother Teresa kisses this woman and picks her up. She sees an intrinsic value in her.

That, surely, is what has motivated people. That is why the word humanization, which was first adopted in the World Council of Churches, is something we evangelicals ought to have taken up. Anything that dehumanizes human beings should be an outrage to us, because God has made them in his image. The whole concept of the rehumanization of human beings, and the deliverance of human beings from anything that dehumanizes, ought to inspire people, and has inspired people.

Mainline Churches

Do you still think the Anglican Church makes a good home for evangelicalism?

Yes, I think it's a good boat to fish from, but that's not the reason I'm a member of it.

There are three options for evangelicals in mainline denominations. The two extremes are to get out or cave in. The third is to stay in without giving in. The extremes are actually the easy options. Anybody can cave in: that's the way of the coward, the way of the feeble mind. To cave in is to stay in but to fail to hold on to your distinctive evangelicalism. You just compromise.

To get out is to say, "I can't bear this constant argument and controversy any longer." That also is an easy option. I know people have done it and suffered because they have given up a secure job and salary; but it's an easy option psychologically.

The difficult thing is to stay and refuse to give in, because then you're always in tension with people with whom you don't altogether agree, and that is painful.

But no Christian can give unqualified allegiance to any institution. What, for you, would be the signals that it is time to leave the Church of England?

I've always felt that it's unwise to publish a list of criteria in advance. Nevertheless, I'm quite happy to talk about them. I think one's final decision to leave would be an exceedingly painful one, a situation that I cannot envisage at the moment.

I would take refuge in the teaching of the New Testament, where the apostles seem to distinguish between major and minor errors. The major doctrinal errors concern the person and work of Christ. It's clear in 1 John that anyone who denies the divine-human person of Jesus is anti-Christ. So, if the church were officially to deny the Incarnation, it would be an apostate church and one would have to leave.

Then, there's the work of Christ. In Galatians, if anybody denies the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone, that is anathema: Paul calls down the judgment of God upon that person.

On the major ethical issues: the best example is the incestuous offender in 1 Corinthians 5. Paul called on the church to excommunicate him. If you want me to stick my neck out, I think I would say that if the church were officially to approve homosexual partnerships as a legitimate alternative to heterosexual marriage, this so far diverges from biblical sexual ethics that I would find it exceedingly difficult to stay. I might want to stay on and fight for a few more years, but if they persisted, I would have to leave.

Evangelical Fragmentation

It seems that evangelicalism has fragmented into different groups, with different heroes, publishers, and cultures. How should we think of ourselves now?

I don't mind plurality as long as it goes hand-in-hand with unity. But I've given a great deal of my life to the development and preservation of unity within the evangelical constituency. I have never believed that our differences have been great enough to warrant fragmentation. I don't mind people founding their own societies and going after their own thing—again, it's an example of specialization—provided they still recognize that we belong to one another.

What are the current causes of evangelical fragmentation?

We fragment over what we regard as issues of principle, but often the real reason is personal, isn't it? When we're afraid, we withdraw into our own fellowships and ghettos with like-minded people where we feel secure. I'm aware of that fear in myself; it's part of our basic human insecurity. We're looking for contexts in which we can be supported rather than questioned.

I'm afraid that in some cases the cause of fragmentation is worse than that—it's a simple matter of ambition. There is a great deal of empire building among us. The only empire in which we should be interested is the kingdom of God, but I fear some people are building their own.

On issues of principle, what concerns you most?

The uniqueness and finality of Jesus Christ in an increasingly pluralistic world is one—the debate about whether we go for exclusivism, inclusivism, or pluralism. Then there's the homosexual question, and the whole subject of sexual ethics.

So the church must recover its prophetic voice and reject both the idea that ethics evolve and the notion that love obliges us to capitulate to the modernist view of things.

We need a voice that is essentially positive, not just negative—for example, on the family, or the joy of sexual intercourse, and so on.

I don't know why we are always caught on the defensive and are reactive instead of proactive. I don't think it is something in our make-up as evangelicals. I sometimes wonder if it is that God has not given us many leaders who are visionaries.

The evangelical renaissance of the last 50 years has really been one of biblical scholarship. What we have lacked is systematic or creative theologians. I believe we have one in Alister McGrath; I am sure in England we had one in Jim Packer before he left the country. But we have very few theologians who are really far-sighted and give us a vision that will unite, inspire, and enthuse us.

Does this lack of vision for the future have something to do with our perception of truth lodged in orthodoxy? Does this make it difficult to be creative and take risks?

Yes, there is something in that. Evangelicalism is fundamentally loyal to a past revelation, and because we are tied forever to what God did and said in the historic Jesus, we look back more often than we look forward.

In my debate with David Edwards [published as Evangelical Essentials by InterVarsity], I drew a distinction between the liberal, the fundamentalist, and the evangelical. The liberal, to me, is like a gas-filled balloon which takes off into the ether and is not tethered to the earth in any way. The fundamentalist is like a caged bird, unable to escape at all. To me, the true evangelical is like a kite, which flies high but at the same time is always tethered. This demands a particularly unusual combination of loyalty to the past and creativity for the future.

Eternal Punishment

You have fallen afoul of some evangelicals. Some of your reflections on the nature of eternal punishment were considered uncongenial to orthodoxy by some people.

In Evangelical Essentials, I described as "tentative" my suggestion that "eternal punishment" may mean the ultimate annihilation of the wicked rather than their eternal conscious torment. I would prefer to call myself agnostic on this issue, as are a number of New Testament scholars I know. In my view, the biblical teaching is not plain enough to warrant dogmatism. There are awkward texts on both sides of the debate.

The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny and, if necessary, reform.

How would you advise theologians to think creatively in the light of orthodoxy?

I don't think any of us is wise enough to express ourselves in a creative or questioning manner without first testing it within the Christian community. It is part of our loyalty to that community that we allow it to criticize or comment on what we may want to say.

Dialogue with Liberals

In your debate with David Edwards, you both seemed to reach a genuine understanding of and respect for each other's positions. Do you think that evangelicals can learn from the liberal tradition?

David Edwards, a self-styled liberal, is crying out for a certain intellectual and academic freedom that can move with the times and respond to what he continually calls "the climate of educated opinion today," without being tethered to anything more than the love of God manifested in Jesus of Nazareth. I don't think that's an unfair summary. But all the time he's pulling at the tether, and that's the great difference between us.

He would say that evangelicals have a poor doctrine of the Holy Spirit, because we don't think the Spirit is continuing to teach and to "lead us into all the truth." I believe that text, John 16:13, is the most misunderstood and manipulated text in the whole of the Bible, because every branch of Christendom claims it.

It's a key text for the Roman Catholic Church. "He will lead you into all the truth." Who is the "you" here? Roman Catholics would claim it refers to the bishops as successors of the apostles. The liberal quotes it, and the charismatic quotes it: "He'll lead me," they say. But even the most elementary hermeneutical principle would tell us that the "you" means the apostles. Jesus said, "I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now." Who is he addressing? The apostles. "But when the Spirit comes, he will do what I have not been able to do; he will lead you into the truth which I wanted to give you but you weren't able to take it." It must be the apostles. We cannot change the identity of the "you" in the middle of the sentence.

So the fulfillment of that prophecy is in the New Testament. The major ministry of the Holy Spirit has been to lead the apostles into all the truth and to give us in the New Testament this wonderful body of truth that remains our authority. That does not mean that the ministry of the Holy Spirit has ceased. It means that the role of the Holy Spirit has changed from the revelation of new truth to giving us a profounder perception and application of old truth—from revelation to illumination, if you like.

Although I may be overstating it slightly, I want to say that God has no more to teach us than he has taught us in Christ. It is inconceivable that there should be a higher revelation than God has given in his incarnate Son. But although God has no more to teach us, we have a great deal more to learn. And although he has no more to give us than he has given us in Christ, we have a great deal more to receive.

Evangelicals and Catholics

Some people feel that evangelicals adapt, eventually, to changing circumstances, whereas Catholicism stands firm like a rock. Those who say there is a loss of authority in our world are tending toward Rome …

Or Orthodoxy.

Do you think there is something about Rome that is rightly attractive?

Yes. The true evangelical wants both liberty and authority. We want to ask questions, to think, to pry, to peer, to probe, to ponder. We want to do all these things, but within a framework of submission to an ultimate authority. But we're asking questions about our authority: what does it mean and how does it apply? So we experience an uneasy tension between liberty and authority.

I couldn't find a lodging place in either Catholicism or liberalism, because one seems to major on authority with little room for liberty, while the other emphasizes liberty with very little room for authority.

Authentic Christianity includes this quotation: "The word Christian occurs only three times in the bible. because of its common misuse we could profitably dispense with it." Since the word evangelical doesn't appear at all and is also misused, should we dispense with it, too?

We could, in theory, for the same reason. The words that are used in the New Testament most frequently are believer, brother or sister, and child of God. There isn't a word that the Bible itself gives us to which we have to be loyal.

But the reason I want to stick with evangelical is a historical one. It has expressed a recognizable tradition, to which I still belong (and am proud and thankful to belong), and I want to take my stand not only on Scripture but in that tradition.

Does it alarm you to hear people calling themselves "postevangelical"?

Yes. I don't know what they mean, but it does alarm me. If you are "post" anything, you are leaving something behind, and I want to know what it is. If it's our many faults and failures, fine, but that's not postevangelicalism, it's post-twisted-evangelicalism.

What are the weaknesses of evangelicalism?

We've discussed our rugged individualism and the difficulty we have in cooperating with one another. Another weakness is our dogmatism. Instead of remembering Deuteronomy 29:29, we are dogmatic about even the things that God has kept secret. We're often not prepared to admit a certain agnosticism, which is a very evangelical thing, if we are alluding to what God has not revealed.

We have many weaknesses. I'm sure there are plenty more if I were to go on.

Do you think that our emphasis on "the Christian mind" may have prevented us from fully affirming the wisdom to be found outside the church?

What you mean is: Should we pay attention to the wisdom literature of other religions?

And the wisdom of people with no religion?

Yes, we certainly should, even if with reservations and a desire to bring their thinking to the ultimate touchstone of biblical authority.

The key text is John 1:9, which says that the logos, the Son of God before the Incarnation, is the true light coming into the world and giving light to everybody. I believe that is the right translation—that he is constantly coming into the world. Indeed, he has never left it, because the world was made by him, and so he is in the world. He was in the world even before he came into it in the Incarnation, and as the logos he is giving light to everybody.

So, there is a certain light of common sense, reason, and conscience that everybody has, because they're also made in the image of God. To be sure, reason is fallen and fallible; nevertheless, it still operates.

For those two reasons, the divine logos and the human logos, if you like, we should listen respectfully to what other people are saying, even if at the end of the day we have the liberty to say, "No, that is wrong, because the Bible teaches otherwise."

God and the Poor

Authentic Christianity records you saying in 1981: "What will posterity see as the chief Christian blind spot of the last quarter of the twentieth century? I do not know. But I suspect it will have something to do with the economic oppression of the Third World and the readiness with which Western Christians tolerate it, and even acquiesce to it."

I did, I think, mention three blind spots. The nuclear horror was another one: evangelicals were the last people to make a statement about the immorality of weapons of indiscriminate destruction. I think the third one was the environment.

There is a great deal in the Bible about God's concern for the poor. Poverty—not poverty in the sense of simplicity, but in the sense of lacking the basic wherewithal for survival—is not really on our evangelical conscience yet. Partly because many people have not traveled and seen oppressive poverty with their own eyes, although they have seen the pictures on television.

Are we too ready in the west to accept the view that a successful church is also an affluent one?

Because some people see prosperity as a mark of God's blessing, even today, they can't come to terms with poverty. We have to have the courage to reject the health-and-wealth gospel absolutely. It's a false gospel.

Do you think the idea that God wants us to be comfortable because he loves us presents a threat to a cutting-edge spirituality?

Well, we're sitting in a very comfortable flat as we talk, and it's easy to say! But I do think that comfort is dangerous, and we should constantly be re-examining our lifestyle.

The New Testament is beautifully balanced on this. Paul avoids both extremes, not least in 1 Timothy 4 and 6. Asceticism is a rejection of the good gifts of the good Creator. Its opposite is materialism—not just possessing material things but becoming preoccupied with them. In between asceticism and materialism is simplicity, contentment, and generosity, and these three virtues should mark all of us.

It's not a question of rules and regulations about our income and how many rooms or cars we have. It's these principles of simplicity, contentment, and generosity over against covetousness, materialism, and asceticism that we have to apply to our living all the time. We need to give away what we are not using, because if we don't use it, we don't need it.

You've seen a great deal of poverty around the world. Do you perceive a difference between the Christianity of the poor and the Christianity of the rich?

Yes, I do. In the Old Testament, there is a fundamental association between material and spiritual poverty. Often, you are not sure what is meant by "the poor." But they tend to be those who are materially poor and who on account of that poverty need to put their trust in God with a greater strength than if they were rich and so self-dependent.

My own understanding is that in the Sermon on the Mount, which may have involved a concentrated period of instruction, Jesus said both "Blessed are you poor" (Luke) and "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew). I think there is a blessedness attaching to both. The kingdom of God is a blessing to the materially poor because it affirms their dignity and relieves their poverty; it is also a blessing, a free gift, to the spiritually poor. So, there is a sense in which poverty is an aid to faith and riches are a barrier to faith.

I want to add that all these terms—simplicity, contentment, generosity, and wealth—are comparative. There is no absolute simplicity or poverty. My little kitchen not only has running water but constant hot water. That would be regarded as the height of luxury in some parts of the world, yet we don't regard it as that, and comparatively speaking, in this country it isn't. We need to feel the challenge of Jesus to us in the light of our own situation and circumstances.

Is God's kingdom a blessing to the poor even if they do not recognize that they are poor in spirit?

No, I think the two blessings go together.

Do the poor tend to see themselves as poor in spirit?

Some do. Their material poverty helps them to see their need of Christ. Others, however, become bitter and can't listen to the gospel. What is the African phrase? "An empty belly has no ears." When they're that poor, they can't respond to the gospel. It's like the Israelites when Moses told them about the exodus: "They did not listen to him because of their cruel bondage."

Would you agree with liberation theologians when they say that the Scriptures were written against a background of poverty and are most truly understood when they are read with the eyes of the poor?

I'm very keen on cross-cultural Bible-study groups. We can help each other listen to the Word of God, but I don't think it is true to say that the poor necessarily have greater insights. We all come to Scripture with our presuppositions and our cultural defenses, and these may be very different from one another's. The liberation theologian and the Marxist also have their cultural defenses.

What we need to do in cross-cultural Bible-study groups is to cry to God to use each other in breaking through these defenses.

The Charismatic Movement

Can we turn to the charismatic movement? how Have your views changed since Baptism and Fullness?

Baptism and Fullness was the second edition; the first was The Baptism and Fullness of the Holy Spirit. I practically rewrote the book, principally because I felt I had been less than generous in my evaluation of the movement. I wanted to put on record that I had no doubt that God had blessed the charismatic movement to both individuals and local churches. It would be quite impossible and improper to deny that.

I do believe in the Holy Spirit! The Christian life is inconceivable without the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith and life depend entirely upon the Holy Spirit: the Spirit convicts us of sin, opens our eyes to see the truth as it is in Jesus, causes the New Birth to take place, bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, transforms us into the image of Christ, is the earnest of our final inheritance, and so on. Every stage and every part of the Christian life is impossible without the Holy Spirit.

So I believe in the Spirit; but I still believe that some of the distinctive doctrines of charismatic Christians are not as honoring to the Spirit as they think they are, and are in fact mistaken.

What I find difficult is the stereotyping of Christian experience, that everybody has to go through the same two hoops. I don't see that in the New Testament. I see the emphasis on the New Birth; and the New Testament bends over backwards in its attempt to find adequate phraseology to define the New Birth. It speaks not only of rebirth but of re-creation and resurrection, and nothing could be greater than that. It seems to me we are bound to go askew if we put any subsequent experience on a level higher than the original one.

As for the gifts, I simply think that many charismatics focus on the wrong ones. There are at least 20 gifts identified in the New Testament, and these lists are so random that there are probably many more that were not included. But the Pentecostal still concentrates on the three supernatural gifts of healing, prophecy, and tongues.

The most important gift today, measured by Paul's principle that we should excel in those that build up the church, is teaching. Nothing builds up the church like the truth, and we desperately need more Christian teachers all over the world. I often say to my charismatic friends, "If only you would concentrate on praying that God would give teachers to the church who could lead all these new converts into maturity in Christ, it would be more profitable."

Could the development of the movement bring about an existential form of Christianity? Just as liberals read scripture in the light of its relevance to culture, could the charismatics read it in the light of its relevance to experience?

I think that's well put, and I want to endorse it. I wish I'd thought of it first!

Mind you, I don't want to denigrate experience. I don't want charismatics to say of me, as they often do, "He's a dry old stick." Because I'm not, actually. I'm a much more emotional person than people realize. I thank God that he hasn't made me a fish, cold and slippery. I'm very thankful to be a human being, with all the emotional passion and fervor, as well as intellectual concern, which that entails.

I do believe in emotion; I do believe in experience. The Christianity of the New Testament is undoubtedly an experiential faith, in which deep feelings are involved. But I want to combine clear thinking with deep feelings.

I find that mind and emotion are kept together very much in the New Testament. I have always loved, for example, the Emmaus walk: "Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened to us the Scriptures?" It was through their mind that their heart began to burn. We have to recognize the important place of experience, but our experience does have to be checked all the time against biblical teachings. Otherwise, it will become an ungodly and non-Christian existentialism.

Have you yourself had experiences of God that could be called "charismatic"?

I want to say yes to the first part of the sentence and no to the second. Certainly God has given me in his goodness some profound spiritual experiences, both when I've been alone and even more in public worship, when tears have come to my eyes, when I've perceived something of his glory.

I can remember one particular occasion when we were singing, "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." I did really break down, because I saw again the supreme exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of the Father. I have had other profound experiences that have moved me to the core of my being. But I wouldn't say that any of them has been a traditional charismatic experience such as speaking in tongues. And they have not been disassociated from the mind. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is all the time saying, "You mustn't let these experiences bypass your mind." The mind is involved, though the experience goes beyond it.

But I know what Paul meant in Romans 5 about the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts. I also know what he meant in Romans 8 about the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

The Toronto Blessing

What do you make of the Toronto Blessing?

I never want to criticize anything which people claim has been a blessing to them in terms of a greater awareness of the reality of God, or a profounder joy, or an overwhelming love for God and for others, or a fresh zeal in evangelism. It's not for me to doubt any of these things.

My major questions concern three areas. First, it is a self-consciously anti-intellectual movement. I listened on tape to the first person who brought the Toronto Blessing to Britain. This person said: "Don't analyze, don't ask questions. Simply receive." I think that is both foolish and dangerous. We must never forget that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

Secondly, I cannot possibly come to terms with those animal noises, and it grieves me very much that—as far as I know—no charismatic leaders have publicly disassociated themselves from them, as they should. The whole Bible tells us that we are different from the animal creation; it rebukes us when we behave like animals and calls us to be distinct. Nebuchadnezzar's animal behavior was under the judgment, not the blessing, of God.

My third problem concerns all the falling. Even charismatic leaders have pointed this out, that on the few occasions in the Bible when people have fallen over, they have all fallen forwards on their faces, and they have all done so after they have been granted a vision of the majesty, holiness, and glory of God. In the Toronto experience, however, people fall backwards without any previous vision of God.

Those three things trouble me.

Anti-Intellectualism

Evangelicals, too, have been accused of anti-intellectualism in two new books: Mark Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind and Os Guinness's Fit Bodies, Fat Minds. This trend seems to be more pervasive than just an existential or experiential form of the faith.

I agree. It has been characteristic of much evangelicalism (but even more of Pentecostalism). There are notable exceptions, and thank God for them.

I think we need to encourage each other in the proper use of the mind. Preachers are still the key people; the church is always a reflection of the preaching it receives. It is not an exaggeration to say that the low standards of Christian living throughout the world are due more than anything else to the low standards of Christian preaching and teaching.

If we can recover true expository preaching as being not only exegesis but an exposition and application of the Word of God, then congregations will learn it from us preachers and go and do the same thing themselves. We need to help our congregations to grasp and use the hermeneutical principles that we are using ourselves. We need to be so careful in the development of our evangelical hermeneutic that the congregation says, "Yes, I see it. That is what the text means, and it couldn't mean anything else."

The worst kind of preaching allows people to say, "Well, I'm sorry, I don't agree with you. I think you're twisting the Scripture."

Women's Roles

You seem to me to have changed your position on gender. Certainly, your later writings present a different view of the status and role of women. What has brought this about?

What has helped me most in struggling with this issue is a growing understanding of the need for "cultural transposition." This is based on the recognition that although biblical truth is eternal and normative in its substance, it is often expressed in changeable cultural terms.

The Lausanne Covenant described Scripture as "without error in all that it affirms." Our duty is to determine what it does affirm—that is, what God is teaching, promising, or commanding in any given passage. When we have identified this, we have the further task of reclothing this unchanging revelation in appropriate modern cultural dress. The purpose is not to dodge awkward teachings of Scripture, still less to foster disobedience, but to make our obedience contemporary.

If we apply this principle to the role of women, it seems clear to me that masculine "headship" (which I believe refers to responsibility rather than authority) is a permanent and universal truth, because Paul roots it in Creation. And what Creation has established, no culture is able to destroy. We have no liberty to disagree with the apostle Paul.

But we still need to ask, "What are the appropriate cultural expressions of this in the church today?" For one thing, we may drop the wearing of veils. Is it possible, then, that the requirement of silence is similarly a first-century cultural application which is not necessarily applicable today?

This, if I remember rightly, was the position we adopted at the National Evangelical Anglican Congress in 1977. We expressed the view that a woman could be ordained and so could teach men, but that an appropriate contemporary expression of masculine headship would be for her to belong to a local pastoral team, of which a man would be the head.

I still hold this view, although, of course, I know it has been overtaken by history.

The Future

You have said that Christians are optimists but not utopians. are you optimistic about the church? Do you feel that the next generation of leaders is adequately equipped?

Yes, I must reply in the affirmative. Elderly people always have difficulty recognizing the gifts of the young, or younger, but surely, as I look around, there are men and women of most remarkable gifts that God is raising up.

Yet we are not utopians. We cannot build the kingdom of God on earth. We are waiting for the new heaven and the new earth, which will be the home of righteousness and peace.

But meanwhile, I'm an optimist, because I don't think pessimism and faith are easy bedfellows. I believe that God is at work in the world; I believe that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every believer; and I believe that the church can be salt and light in the community. Both salt and light are influential commodities: they change the environment in which they are placed.

What advice would you give to the new generation of the church's leaders?

I'd want to say so many things. But my main exhortation would be this: Don't neglect your critical faculties. Remember that God is a rational God, who has made us in his own image. God invites and expects us to explore his double revelation, in nature and Scripture, with the minds he has given us, and to go on in the development of a Christian mind to apply his marvelous revealed truth to every aspect of the modern and the postmodern world.

Highlights from Day 2 of Prophetic Prayer Summit @ KICC, Nairobi

2006-04-28T16:08:00.000+03:00

Sorry guys for delaying this; time hasn't been on my side. I didn't attend today's meeting, but I gather some government officials were expected to represent the country's leadership at some of today's sessions. It ends on Sunday, - if any of the people attending the remainder of the proceedings sends me anything, you can be sure you'll have it here in real time. Now, here is what I got from yesterday's sessions (PLEASE EXCUSE MY TYPOS AND BAD GRAMMAR), following the first highlights I posted here on Wednesday. Worship session - Morning - Luke 13:34-35: Watch out that the Lord might not weep over you; let Him rejoice over your life with singing. - He's going to turn around the captivity of His people. Though your beginning days are small, your coming days will be exceedingly great. We bind the strongman, principality and territorial spirit over this city and nation. We nullify every oath and covenant that has been made over this nation that is not of God. We declare a shift in the spiritual world in favour of God and His purposes over our nation in the name of Jesus. - We stand here in your name and authority, Lord Jesus, asking that you release us into your purposes and designs for us in this land. It's time to move from rituals into His manifestation; from tradition into His presence. Session One - Pr. Eava Keith (from USA) - You are not a concubine; a harlot to be bought off by some people. You are a bride purchased by the blood of the Lord. He suffered so that He might birth the seed He has put in you. You must accept Him and choose to be His bride. You must turn away from false gods. You must choose God; you have no option in this matter. It's either Him or you cease to be His bride. - Zecharias 3 : You are high priests for the bride; Satan the Lord rebukes you for luring many away from the groom. You (believers) have the authority to stand as the Lord did; He rebukes Satan on your behalf. - Genesis 4: He desires to bless you; subdue the earth and have dominion, power and authority over it. We repent, we choose Lord to folow you; to obey you, to stand with you. - Kenya needs Jesus. The people who do not know the Lord know that His condemnation stands over and above them. They have become cynical and lost faith in God. They need to know that God loves them; it's the enemy of their souls that hates them. God is restoring what they need to have in Him both in the physical and spiritual realm. He'll bless Africa through Kenya. - Isaiah 46 - Your country is struggling with the god of secret societies, the one world god that comes against God's plans for you and your nation. Freemasonry, for instance, has a stronghold in your nation. Freemasonry and such other secret societies seek to build for themselves altars in your country's life. They seek to extract the very best from you. False gods and the Anti-Christ come against God and His purposes in this world. God is saying that He is revealing this to you so that you realize that you are precious to Him; He's grieving over your lostfulness over what I have just described. I come not to assign blame; I have come to ask you to repent so as to break the spiritual curses over your nation. - Genesis 10 - The spirit of the Anti-Christ has has, since the beginning of time, come against Christ and built empires for itself; don't allow it to prosper in Kenya. It has separated the bride (Kenyan Church) from the bridegroom (God). - Drought and famine doesn't come against the people; they both come against the demonic principalities that have been allowed to reign in the country via the hearts of some of your people who are in agreement with the Anti-Christ. Some of the people who have done this are in the Church. You must repent! That's the only way you'll save yourselves, your nation and the rest of Africa in these last days. Session Two - Dr. Billy Lubansa (Zambia) - What happens in Kenya will affect the rest of Africa. I'm suprised that some of your pastors and bishops are not here to hear this. - Kenya shall be saved! Kenyans, you are being re-positioned for your destiny. You were not made by accident; you are here by God's plan. You are not a biological accident. Oh, beautiful land of Kenya! Take your position and posession! We pray and fast to go to America; some of us who are already out there are currently praying to return to Africa. Know your position and destiny in Christ; don't lose that by being ensnared by what the West has to offer you in the way of a livelihood. Go to the West and do what God has sent you to do there; but know your position and guard it, you'll see the Lord coming through for you. - Isaiah 46:10 - God declares the end before the beginning. There's much to slow and stop you along the way but the Lord alredy has your destiny in sight. Failure is not final, it's a way to learn. - Deutronomy 29:29: Your destiny is clear from the Lord. Don't be fooled by false prophets who are only interested in your money. They are running after the money of the well-off while disregarding the plight of the poor. - The latter rains are coming over you; there shall be an explosion of God's mighty woks over you and your land. The noise of that shall be so much; Africa shall have to stand still and hear the noise of Kenya! - Ignorance, fear, human traditions, wickedness, etc dis-position you. The Church has eyes but it's not seeing and ears but it's not listening; they are not using either of the two in these last days. God wants them to see what He wants them to see, not what they ant to see. God also wants them to hear what He wants them to hear; not what they want to hear. May God open your eyes and ears. - Did you know that 3/4 of the Church is in a back-slidden state? Sometimes we backslide because we don't know the meaning of life. Who are you? What are you? Why are you? Unless you answer these questions, you'll be doing things without destiny. Elijah ate because the journey before him was long. Why do you eat? Why do you marry? Why do you sleep? Why do you preach? Etc. Everything you do must be adding value to getting you to your destiny. - Sometimes we are displaced because we don't understand the value of and in our lives. It's high time you understood that you are not a substitute; there is no one else like you on his planet. The value one has for something will determine how much he / she will offer for it. The Lord paid for you with His own blood; that's how much He valued you. - Jeremiah 29:11 - He knows beggining and end and the plans He has for you. The value God has placed on you can never be changed, - not by anyone or any circumstance, past, present or future. - God does not need to save by many or few; He'll work with those who are out there for Him. Nations will begin to flock to Kenya for blessings; we need to prepare for that (a program was then announced to raise 1 million intercessors for Kenya, to pray for one hour each week for Kenya and Africa between 4:00-5:00 a.m). Session 3: Pr. Emmanuel Kure - Isaiah 64:1-4 - When God begins to move everyone knows it; His move will either build or destroy you depending on where you are in relation to Him. - The gates are open for Kenya to be the lighthouse for Africa and the world. - Why was the concept of the Church introduced by God in the Old Testament through to the New Testament? Why did Jesus say the Holy Spirit would be sent to us? Why are you alive today? Why are you filled with the Holy Spirit? - God is still alive through the Church; making Himself a manifold witness in the world's darkness. Don't worry about any demon harassing you; the time for its defeat has come. - You have not sought God in His Scriptures; you've always waited for others to interpret it for you, that's why you have been defeated. Not every wind of doctrine should move you. Be aware of your hour of visitation because the rest of the world is waiting to celebrate Africa at its hour of shining. It must start now. - Ezekiel 36:1-5 You are the mystery of God on earth. You people fear herbalists, wizards and witchdoctors yet God has ordained you to step over them by the power of His might and Spirit. When the genuine comes, the imperfect must leave; it's time for true worshippers to arise. Only then wil the destiny of your nation change. The wicked should not overwhelm the righteous and portary themselves as angels of light. The righteous should take their rightful place. We are priests and oracles of God. Christ is in you, the hope of glory. The most important thing for you at this hour should be your salvation and that of your nation. - He has no created you to move with the crowds that make you feel good and all that; He has created you to fulfill a destiny for Him and His Kingdom. Church ministers should not let the glamour of their ministries to blind them from the immense work that still remains undone. - You'll not die untill you fulfill the mystery of your existence. Your destiny is too important for Him because it will change the face of the nations; woe unto you if you don't fulfill that or consider it meaningless. When Christians begin begging to be respected, they are finished. My friends, beyond this age there is an eternity; how prepared are you for it? Your business on earth is to prophesy to your life and situations and change them by the power of God. You are supposed to be God's agent of change. It's time you took control over the state of affairs in your country through righteous influence. Change your environment both in the physical and spiritual, failure to which you will not be a good representative of your God. It will take you to correct the wrongs in your society. - Untill the Church in Kenya recognizes and accepts prophecy, it will not move forward. The late General Abacha, even in his wickedness, recognized tgat God had prphesied against him and his wickedness. when the government recognizes that you control the territory, it will bow down at God's feet. Till you learn to prophesy, Babylon will not fall. Don't speak your imagination, speak God's word. The world has been interceeding that you get to know this and manifest God's glory on the earth. - Romans 8:19-20 is a calling you have refused to fulfill. - Warning to Kenyan bishops - Don't copy our (Nigerian) bad ways. The day God refuses to protect you, resign from His work. Don't set a bad example for your congragations by lining yourselves with bodyguards when they (the congragations) are suffering at the hands of villains. I have previouslu witnessed God saving me from 21 religious extremists armed with sub-mchine guns; God always kept me a step ahead of their schemes. If God cannot protect you, how will humans protect you? Psalms 127. If you are a pumbavu pastor, go ask for more bodyguards from your government (audience burst out laughing at this point, including yours truly :-)). It's not the government's securiy that secures your life; it's God's annointing that breaks the yoke. - The Church is to blame for Kenya's problems. The day it shall arise in its power power, glory and righteousness, things will change in this nation. Vacancies will be created in your public and private sectors because of you if you change your spiritual garments and attitude towards God in all sincerity. It's high time Kenya and Africa ceased to be beggars and became donors, producers and not merely consumers who are slaves to the international commercial order. Africa has become a dumping ground for everything. I declare a new dispensation for that to begin changing. And it will change with you. We are beginning this campaign in the South because it is there that the (Dutch) Church was used to oppress the people. There are many unhealed wounds there, causing much much pain and oppression. That needs to change starting this October. We'll then move to other parts of Africa. - Kenya is suffering because the glorious Church is silent and compromised. Its leaders are also fighting over heir small empires and fiefdoms. Do you know that there is a serious battle against graft in Nigeria? The Church there asked the Lord to begin vommiting the corrupt from Nigeria's earth. The government began acting because if it didn't, it was also going to be vommited out of power and the country's land. - Acts 2 - God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and they will prophesy. If you get this understanding, Kenya's deliverance will be set. Refuse to die till you accomplish the reason for which He created you. Isaiah 38 - Don't let Jesus retire you before you are done.

Highlights from Day 1 of Prophetic Prayer Summit @ KICC, Nairobi

2006-04-27T01:16:00.000+03:00

Sorry guys, I'm tired...so this will most likely have typos here and there. Pia, leo sina photos zozote as my camera is off-duty kidogo :-) But this report is generally in my tradition of getting you stuff about and from the Kenyan Christian community as and when I get it. Read on.... Speaker: Pastor Emmanuel Nuhu Kure (from Nigeria) Preliminaries a). Pastor Othniel Mwabili - Kenya is a lighthouse for Africa; it's called to send missionaries to the rest of Africa and evangelize it. Other African nationa have been finding their destinies through Kenya. This is precisely a sign for Christians regarding what God wants to do both in the physical and the spiritual. Irresponsibility in not fulfilling what He has revealed to us is going to be an insult to Him. - You need to fight a good fight for your country by what God has revealed to you via the words you speak and what you pray regarding your nation. - The 8-4-4 generation has been derided previously, but the seasons are shifting and God is doing something new with the so-called "zero-generation" (8-4-4) in this land. The physical and spiritual shaking that has been witnessed in the country has come so that believers may be enthroned. Those who have been saying that there is no God should look up. What He is going to do in this land is immense, no one will even dare accredit it to NARC; His finger will have done it. He is going to rebuke those who have gloried in selling their country to false gods. - "Kenya" means bright. God is taking us to our rightiful place. You don't have to look blessed now to seem blessed, God will manifest Himself in your life as you respond to Him. You have to obey God's word and apply it in your life. We know that Kenya is blessed; now the fullness of time has come. A major overflow is coming; thank God that you are living in these days. He's raising a generation that will go to the four ends of the earth proclaiming His Lordship and goodness as He shakes its foundations. It's not about our capacity or numbers, it's about Him being with us. If you obey Him, He'll answer you. Because you have chosen to listen to Him as a nation, He'll impregnate you with a vision for yourself and the nations. Take care of yourselfm therefore, so as not to mess with what He is birthing in you; it's about Him, not you. It will bless you and the children of other nations. Take care of the seed He is planting in you. Psalms 68 is coming true for you and Africa. God has re-membered you. You are a child of remembrance; a child of preservation. b). Pastor Wilson Mamboleo - God will not let the prayers of His people go to waste. The tears of the saints of God since the inception of the country till now are before Him. All past Kenyan presidents, the present and future ones will have to recognize that pool of tears and turn their nations to God and Godliness or else their leaderships will be in trouble. Kibaki just realized that. Youngmen younger than myself are going to lead this country into better days. Nineteen years ago we gathered here for prayers for this nation. It has taken us this long to gather here again. Main session with Pr. Emmanuel - My Father, My Father, whatever in Kenya that is not built on Christ - your solid rock - bring it down. Arise and bring such things down. On the day you died for the nations, your blood was spilt for Kenya too. Let each tribe and community in this nation commit itself to your saving knowledge. Bring down their altars that oppose you and your message of salvation and peace. - Kenya is going to recover the years it has lost; the day of its glory has come. Its glory among the nations has come. The Lord will instruct the nations through those who believe in Him. Luke 21: God is shaking nations; every shakeable thing is being shaken. My own country Nigeria is trembling, South Africa is trembling, your own Kenya is trembling....this is because we are in moments of travail; the birth pangs are on, leading us to the end of the age. - We have been born for these times; there's a trumpet sound that is ushering you into your mission. I'm a child plucked out of fire for this generation. Every fire you have been through has been to prepare you for your championship / dominion. - I'm seeing a change of leadership in this country, there's a new generation coming. You are going through a physical and spiritual transition. You are in the travails and birth-pangs that will give birth to the new generation. Africa is in the place of travail right now. I don't know the outcome of this meeting, but it will be abrupt afterwards. The hour of Kenya has come. The travails of those who have preceeded us are almost over. - Luke 21:22 - The day of the Lord is nigh, don't be amazed by the calamities and catastrophies that are befalling the earth in our days. The day of your glorification and wiping away of your tears has come. Prepare your heart as His throne; His day is at hand. The day of the bride is here. The earlier leaders of nations realize that the better it will be for them and their citizens. The Church has become so accomodating of the world that it has lost its flavour. It has caroused with the world for so long; those who have kept themselves pure must now arise. - I release you from the bondages over you and your nation, - witchcraft, freemasonry, satanism, .....etc. - A few years ago, God gave me a very harsh message for Nigeria. Its political and religious leaders ran away from me; they wanted nothing to do with me. But now they are rushing back, wanting to hear what God is saying. Exodus 4:23-24 - God has declared battle against your physical and spiritual enemies both as individuals and as a nation. Why do you think people from all nations rush to your country every now and then? Do you think it is because of your wildlife? If so, think again. They rush here - and some might not know it - because the seed of the gospel was planted here and found a foundation like it has had in no other African country. Kenya is favoured by God. People, you have had His favour from the beginning. There's no demon or human being that can destroy Kenya's destiny before God. Don't you be overwhelmed by your current pains as a nation and Church. - Why has God delayed your entry into His glory? Kenya is a pillar - a city of refuge - one of the few through which God will have mercy on Africa. Kenya is among the few landmarks of Africa - don't change that or God will fight you. If Kenya falls, Aftica will be wounded forever. I didn't come here because of you, I came here because of me; if you fall, I'll be affected. I have come to help you in your time of battle so that I'll live. The heavenlies (Editor's note: It means "spiritual world" - for those among you who are not born-again) are currently fighting over Kenya. - I didn't come here as a Nigerian who wants recognition; if others have come here for that, please forgive them. Please forgive Nigerians who have wounded your souls. There are 3 categories of people who will take Kenya out of its present morass: i). Elders and princess: The Church in Kenya is divided into harlots (corrupt) and glorious (incorruptible). The ame divisions extend to the princes in your national, political leadership. God will separate the good from the evil in both your politics as well as the Church. He will side with the Godly. A line between the righteous and the unrighteous is being drawn right now. God is going to raise new Church leaders to replace those who have betrayed Him in this nation. God is going to answer your prayers. These are the days when God is going to choose His elect. Have you noticesd that leaders of nations, including your very own Kibaki, are losing control over situations in their countries? In these days, a good heart or intention on the part of a leader is not going to be enough. Nations must turn to God and pursue righteousness in all their dealings. Isaiah 45:22 - Go back to the God of the land, Jesus Christ; not your tribal deities. We have more of the latter in Nigeria, where we speak nearly 800 languages. That has meant that unless God annoints anyone to rule Nigeria, he or she cannot rule it succesfully. Kenya must return to God. He's the owner of the land; you are strangers in this land. The government has to go back to the owner of the land and negotiate with Him. I pray that Kibaki will meet with the right prophets who will tell him the truth so that the Godly remnants in Kenya and the nation can be saved. Kenyans, you are a fulfilment of prophecy. ii). Wailing women - Jeremiah 9 - When things have gone wrong in a country and its Christian leadership has been bought by government functionaries to preach and prophesy according to the government's liking and the favours the former get from the latter, God turns to prayerful women in the land. There are bishops and pastors who are hirelings. They talk about prosperity; but it's a condemnation of righteousness. Church ministers in our generation need to repent; their stomachs dictate their pace in the things of God. The late Abacha once sent me US$90,000 so that I could go and change God's will in his favour. He knew in his heart that I had access to God. How many government ministers can Kibaki say have access to God? Who among them can he listen to? New ministers and MPs need to be rising now; they need to emerge now so as to be part of the change that must come upon your land. God used me to rebuke Abacha. I told him that unless he repented, he would die and that I would face the same consequence if I touched his money. I never took his money, try as he did to both send other emmissaries to me as well as some hit squads. He died. Everything I'm saying is on tape and verifiable, those among you in this audience who work for the government of Kenya can call Abuja and confirm this with anyone in government. The day the Lord ceases to defend me, I'll die. People, governments don't take us (clergymen) seriously because they know that we go for the highest bidder these days. Godly ministers and MPs must now emerge to fulfill God's purposes in your country. iii). Virgin daughters of Zion - Every righteous man or woman in your country is a virgin daughter of Zion. You are brides of God. Virgins for Jesus are going to be born (Ezekiel 10:2). - There is much love for the self in the Church, no love for God. There's much love for selfish interests. Few among your Church leaders have beeb willing to pay the price for Kenya's revival and salvation. They want the prosperity gospel, miracles, healings, etc but no holiness. They work for God's promises (blessings), but not love for Him. Allow God to change you so that you and your nation may be saved. Virgins, the beginning of the end has come. Make your lives His dwelling place. - If there was anytime Kibaki and Kenya needed help, it's now. This is because Kenya doesn't know its real enemies. Some of Kibaki's so-called "friends" are his worst enemies; some of the people he considers his "enemies" are the friends he needs. And that's where the Church comes in. Kenya must decide its spiritual destiny now (Daniel 7:26-27). Dominion and rulership are both calling you forth, people of God, but judgement must first take place in your nation. The constants that made you irrelevant must be dealth with. Marketplace conditions and conspiracies that opposed you must fall down. Judgement is coming on government and non-government forces (including the Church) that have opposed and frustrated God's purposes in your country's life. Tommorrow (today :-)) we;ll enter into further prayer for this land and re-structure it in the Spirit. There are people who must be sacked by the President in the next one month. Kenya, get ready for a shaking. There are businesses that have snuffed life out of your country; God is going to snuff them out. Some of you are going to be the persons that will help spearhead the new changes in this country. This is all because God's walk in Kenya has blessed many nations; it's what we are fighting for. In your stability the rest of Africa will be stable; in your sickness Africa shall be sick. Epilogue PastorTanya Pugh (from Oklahoma City, USA) -I Chron. 9:23-34: You must guard the glory that the Lord has placed over your lives and this nation. Your children have oversight over this nation from this generation onwards. You are in charge of your country's intercession. You have been called to turn your faces towards God and join others in battle for the Lord against sin in your lives, country, Africa and the world. You won't accomplish anything till you begin worshipping the Lord. There's going to be much fruit in the land; He'll give you rain for the new seed you are putting in the land both in the spirit and the natural. Pray that towers of sin in your land may fall. He'll give you rain and heal you. Dr. Billy Lubansa -We (clergymen) worship ourselves too much. We worship ourselves more than and instesd of God. It's easier these days to see God and the president of a nation than to see some clergymen. We worship our jobs, marriages, businesses, etc. Rains won't come unless we bring down these towers. The rain of favour and healing is coming. We decree this land to be the Lord's for the purposes of the establishment of His Holiness. To preach the gospek is not a right but a priveledge from the Lord; we should not abuse it. God is looking for someone He can work with and because of you, Kenya shall be saved and transformed; because you stood in the gap with the Lord. - These are important days in our lives and God is getting ready to do some wonderful things in our lives; not the conventional. You cannot reign with God unless you are in fellowship with Him; there's no dominion without communion. - This is a year of full restoration, all you have lost is coming back to you because God has remembered you Nairobi, Kenya and Africa. He is going to re-member your family, business, etc. God's word has power to do you well in every way; reach out and grab it now! This is not the season of manna. Reach out and grab the word; don't you be complacent. - To be re-membered by God is to be re-made (be put together). Everything yours that had been distorted will be re-membered. Jehovah has remembered Kenya, behold He is going to do a new thing in your country. We are coming out of the ordinary; we are going to birth a new Kenya. God is here, in this place; that makes this meeting succesful, not our numbers. You are not a biological mistake, you are in God's divine plan for the destiny He has for you and your country. Previously mocked and rejected, Kenya's womb is going to birth an extra-ordinary spiritual and natural re-positioning. God's mercy is here but if you regard passing vanities as your posession and inheritance, you'll perish. Don't run away from God, you have a destiny. don't run away from God into witchcraft, freemasonry, etc or else you'll perish both as an individual and as a nation. - Your sacrifice towards God must begin with the attitude of your heart. Kenya, you are coming out of your bondage! Out of the belly of your bondage! God has remembered you! Psalms 61 - God is going to answer your prayers in this Psalm. Father, we decree that you are God over Kenya. We command her out of satanism, idol worship, false religions, freemasonry, every form of demonic activity in the name of Jesus. Kenya, you are blessed in Jesus' name! *I'll try and get you more info from the remaining days of the proceedings.

Who Am I? Who Are You?

2006-04-24T10:47:00.000+03:00

Who Am I? Who Are You? That question still rings in my head. My group therapy leader, a psychiatrist and Christian, still seems unsatisfied with my answer. I have pondered, wondered, ruminated, and mused over this question for the past two weeks. I don't really find it that difficult a question to answer. My problem comes with why does my answer seem so incredible when I share it with him or others? Jeremiah 5:1 quotes the prophet as saying: "Roam to and fro and through the streets of Jerusalem and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her." I dont by any stretch of the imagination think that I am that one man who does justice and seeks truth. However, I do believe that in these days of increasing apostasy, I am of a breed of men who are fewer and fewer in number. There are about 500 million males of African descent. Of those who are still married to their first wives, have higher education, are not living in poverty, in nations at war, stricken with illness, in jail, on drugs, in adultery or fornication, in healthy and holy heterosexual relationships, practicing their profession in a way that seeks to honor God and help the poor, I do believe I am one of those men of whom Jeremiah spoke. I believe that if we are to carry on as a remnant of what remains of African men, we must define who we are, and not allow the world to define us as it presently does. The images of black men around the world is thugs, pimps, gangsters, addicts, indiscrete sexually, dishonorable to our wives, our daughters and our mothers, unemployed, foul mouthed, unreliable as leaders and unrepentant as sinners. The question I would put before each and every one of us as black men, those who have the blood of Africa running through our veins is just who are you? Can God find in you someone who will do justice and seek truth? Or are you going to give in to the image that the world expects of us and to become part of the continued decay and decadence of our cultural heritage and the loss of our heavenly inheritance? Who are you? Are you worthy of God roaming to and fro through the streets God is looking for a man who will do justice, seek truth so that He will pardon our people. That is who I have asked my God to make me. That is who I am. *Forwarded to me by a group of my friends in Chicago, Illinois. The photo is from my archives.

Sojourn in Africa's hot spots

2006-04-20T09:57:00.000+03:00

By JOHN OLE KISIMIR

*The writer is one of my mentors in Kenyan and African journalism.

Since my graduation from the university, I’ve traveled to many parts of Africa – the many parts of Africa at war! I’ve ducked bullets. I’ve seen landmines and big guns. I’ve seen battle lines being drawn. I’ve seen children carrying guns that are heavier than them. I’ve shed tears at the immense suffering of African children and their mothers under the hands of ruthless fighting factions – be they governments or rebels.

I’ve met warlords in the dangerous streets of Somalia towns. And too met Pokot and Karamoja warriors in western Kenya. I’ve met well-trained fighting groups as well as encountering merciless rag tag fighters and child soldiers. I have seen things and gone to places that I would never like my mother to hear about.

Be they Kony’s child abductors in northern Uganda, Mai Mai militia in eastern Congo, or Pokot warriors in western Kenya, these groups have one thing in common. They Kill. To them, human life is the cheapest commodity in town. At the end of the day it does not matter how many mothers will mourn the death of their child. I’ve seen this happen over and over. In this situation you don’t even know how to console someone.

As a journalist and humanitarian aid worker in the war torn Horn of Africa, life is exiting and frightening. Many a times I return to a town and realize that my contacts on some street have disappeared – I mean, have been killed. It is depressing.

I was once caught up in a shoot out inside a cinema hall in the Somalia central city of Baidoa during the World Cup 2002. Thanks to the love of soccer. Again soccer took me to more trouble in another town when spectators who are mostly armed started shooting at each other with machine guns. I survived.

To some, especially journalists, curiosity and building a strong CV at the front lines is the big motivation for working in war-torn countries. Others would work in such circumstances to earn good money. But the majority of people that I have met work to alleviate the suffering of vulnerable people under immense stress.

In all my travels and encounter with violence nothing ever shook my life and broke my heart like experiences of the Rwanda genocide that occurred in 1994. The irony in almost everywhere in Africa where war is waged is that the land and people are so beautiful. Rwanda, also known as a country of a “thousand hills” beats many places in beauty both in landscape and even people.

If you are a conference tourist, Kigali City is a great place to be, especially the magnificent five-star Novotel. The streets are busy with people and traffic and business is booming. I thought everyone was just doing fine. No. I was wrong. I drove out of Kigali in search of what genocide really means. I drove past mass graves with hundred of small crosses on top of them. I read names on the plaques of some of them. I took pictures and even waved to cheerful children playing by the roadside. Crops of corn and bananas grow in the fields. Cows, goats, and chickens line the road.

Then I stopped at Ntarama, a small Catholic parish 40 km east of Kigali. Eerily, the pastoral hill country around Ntarama offers no evidence of war, disturbance, or any violence. Brick and tin-roofed buildings in the area look untouched by the three-month war that ended in July 1994.A sign on the road finally announces the church. In French, Kinyarwanda, and English, it reads, "Ntarama Church Genocide site +/- 5000 persons." Another sign in Kinyarwanda explains that events here should not be forgotten.

Yes, it is now twelve years after the genocide, but the 50-by-20 feet church at Ntarama still stinks of decaying flesh. It is strewn with the bloodied clothing and the bones of the 5,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus who were slain here by government soldiers and Interhamwe militia. Ordinary civilians, many neighbors of Ntarama's victims, also participated in the slaughter. I stood at the door and watched faded identity cards, a child's plastic shoe and women's handbags that litter the ground, all covered in years of red dust. On the altar there is nothing but, just one tiny baby’s skull.

"I survived this,” 46-year-old Pacifique Rutaganda, the site caretaker, told me. He has lost 12 relatives in the massacre. The killing started here on 14 April 1994 when Tutsis came here, God’s own Ntarama church for safety. But Rwanda was then a symbol of life without God. Hutu extremists unleashed the bloodbath using machetes, clubs and grenades.

Next to the church, authorities have constructed an open-air shed containing two long tables of unidentifiable body remains. One table has victims' skulls neatly lined in a long rows. The skulls show visible signs of machete blows - long cracks along the cranium. Other skulls have holes punched in by spearheads. Decaying assorted body parts sit on the table next to the skulls.

I walked between the two rows. I was dumb founded. Thousands of skulls met me. By the time I was in the middle, I was almost dizzy. I turned away from skulls and my eyes met a rib cage, a hip joint and tibia on the other row. I turned from it but met more skulls again. The stench of rotting matter is strong here, but not overpowering.

I looked at the skulls again in more detail. I examined the different cuts on them, the ages and sizes. They were real people killed in a country where four in five people are Christians. But that didn't keep them from raping, maiming, killing, and violating almost every Christian creed. Worse, more than 40 priests and other figures of the Catholic Church in Rwanda participated in the killings.

“I have 18 people in these bones,” Rutaganda explains. Over and over again since the place was open for public viewing, he has examined the bones hoping that he at least could identify the remains of his beloved children, mother, father and brothers. He keeps hoping.

I walked out of the shelter, signed a visitor’s book and donated a few dollars. I stood at the gates of the church compound and heard somber musical flute tune being blown from the next compound. People are going on with their normal farming activities. I could still smell the odour of human decay. I could not think clearly. I have no remarks worthy of the things I have just seen. What can one say about a place such as this? I felt a creeping discomfort looking at the gentle hills and mud homes and odd passersby. Which villagers here killed their neighbor, which hid in terror? I wondered.

I picked my cameras and left for a friend’s wedding in the capital. Life was different here, youngsters were dancing, stomping feet like Zulu regiments. Everybody was excited and happy but the site at Ntarama church had numbed my joy feelings. I took a taxi to the Airport wishing President Kagame and his government that they get the wisdom and energy to bring peace to these sick land and heal the scars of the past, deliver justice and a process of national reconciliation.

On arrival in Kenya, the media was awash with Felicien Kabuga’s story. The Rwanda genocide perpetrator is here at the comforts of my country while thousands of those he killed rot in Ntarama church. A month passes and I still look at the pictures of the skulls and pray, “Kabuga, may you die under thunder.”

Meanwhile, I got to move. Somalia is still fighting; Antonov fighters are still dropping bombs in Sudan; Democratic Republic of Congo as ever is in an uneasy calm; southern Africa and the Horn of Africa are engulfed in a terrible famine and landmines must be cleared in Angola. Together with other journalists, doctors, nutritionists, disaster management experts, counselors all sorts of professionals, we would be moving around these hot spots giving humanitarian service to the people who mostly have no control over the wars.

Thank you for loving me this much, forever!

2006-04-12T21:25:00.000+03:00

Marsabit....and an ode to Godana and Waqo

2006-04-10T17:51:00.000+03:00

I returned from Northern Kenya by road late last night on what had been a difficult trip as part of a response to the famine situation in that part of the country, only to get the sad news a few hours later that several government officials and politicians had died in a plane crash near Marsabit. My journey to and from the region was made difficult by heavy rains that have made movement nearly impossible. I'm mourning, but also angry.... I have been wondering why: 1. The rainy affair (assuming it's the only valid reason) had not informed flying decisions surrounding the trip, coming so soon after the Dr. John Garang plane crash that reportedly occured because of the same reason. I honestly want to hope no one, particularly the militias that have reportedly been roaming in the region lately, have had anything to do with the crash. It always pained me whenever they ran roughshod over the local populace and got away with it with minimal or no response from our disciplined forces. If they had a hand in this, they should be tafutwad and made to pay for it. If they didn't, it is still high time they ceased destabilizing the region, whatever their local connections. Look at the pain the insecurity has just caused us! 2. The Office of Public Communications, State House and the mainstream Kenyan mainstream media took ages to break the news. Both the Nation and the Standard began confirming the obvious long after ordinary wananchi had been calling and smsing each other, sometimes with false details (there was a terrible one with a list of unpopular government ministers as the victims). I noted that while the BBC radio and online editions beat everyone of the MSM boys to it, the information flow locally was torturously slow for many. The added speculations and counter-speculations were completely unnecessary in the process. As a country, we still need to grow in the area of crisis management and communication. Just some quick thoughts on the crash itself: 1. In one fell swoop, it has taken away nearly all the protagonists and antagonists in the insecurity question that has plagued parts of the region for quite a while now. What does this mean for the people of the area? What lessons can they pick from this terrible disaster? 2. It has plucked crucial members of the government of the day, particularly operatives that were helping run the Government of National Unity (GNU) with a steely determination amidst raging political storms. I never, for instance, agreed with Hon. Mirugi Kariuki's post-Moi politics, but I admired his contribution to our country's human rights' movement in years gone by. He will be missed in his determined defense of the government of the day, despite accusations that it was running against much that he had believed in before it came to power. 3. It reminds us that we never seem to learn - Why should our leaders fly together when it was mentioned by the Muthoga team after the Busia plane crash in 2003 that it could be a destabilizing factor to the nation? I personally hope that some of our leaders who are in the habit of flying around are reflecting deeply on this; in this age of man-made and natural disasters, we can never be so careful about such incidents. I especially do not want President Kibaki or any of his current opponents ever having to die that way; it's no disaster I would wish on any country, least of all my own Kenya. Now....an ode to both Dr. Bonaya Godana and Bishop William Waqo, both of whom perished in the crash. - Godana: I never interacted with you personally, but you were one of the few politicians I respected in this country. A young man whose guardian / foster-parent you were happened to become one of my best buddies at the university; he's mourning and I'm mourning with him for you were a man truly worth his tears. You were truly a leader. May North Horr truly be consoled at this hour. - Waqo: I never met you in person too, but your helpfulness to me on phone as the ACK Provincial Secretary in the stories I was chasing at the height of the gay marriage debates within the worldwide Anglican Communion - while working with one of the mainstream Kenyan newspapers - was just what I needed at the time. I wrote Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi about a year ago to thank you for it. I hope to God you got my little note of thanks. I'm also aware that the Christian community in Northern Kenya is what it is today partly because of your input there in recent years. Blessings in Heaven, Christian soldier, you now form part of the Cloud of Witnesses (Hebrews 12:1-2) that is cheering the rest of us on at this challenging moment in our collective national and world history!

Radical Christianity

2006-04-06T00:43:00.000+03:00

By JOHN STOTT

If we belong to Jesus Christ, we have a double calling in relation to the world. On the one hand we are to live, serve and witness in the world, and not try to escape from it. On the other hand we are to avoid being contaminated by the would. So we have no liberty either to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world, or to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world. Escapism and conformism are both forbidden us.

This is one of the major themes of the whole Bible, namely that God is calling out a people for himself, and is summoning us to be different from everybody else, saying: 'Be holy as I am holy'.

This foundational theme recurs in all four of the main sections of Scripture - the law, the prophets, the teaching of Jesus, and the teaching of the apostles. Let me give an example of each.

Firstly, the law: 'I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God.' (Leviticus 18:3,4)

Secondly, the prophets: God complains against his people through Ezekiel; 'You have not followed my decrees or kept my laws, but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you' (Ezek. 11:12).

Thirdly, the teaching of Jesus: In the Sermon on the Mount he drew the disciples' attention to the behaviour of pagans and of hypocrites, and then added: 'do not be like them' (Matthew 6:8).

Fourthly, the apostles in the letters of the New Testament. Paul wrote: 'Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind' (Romans 12:2).

Here then is God's call to radical discipleship, or to radical non-conformity to the surrounding culture. It is a call to develop a Christian counter-culture. So what are the contemporary trends which threaten to swallow us up and which we must vigorously resist? There are many, but I will select three.

l. The Challenge of Pluralism

Pluralism is not just an acknowledgment that there is a plurality of faiths and ideologies in the world. We all know that. Pluralism is rather itself an ideology. It insists that every religion has its own independent validity, and that all religions have an equal right to our respect. So pluralism condemns as sheer arrogance every attempt to convert anybody (let alone everybody) to our opinions. Pluralism dismisses world evangelization (and would dismiss the Urbana Convention) as a wholly unacceptable form of imperialism.

Sometime ago I read of a social worker in Nigeria who visited a youth in a back street of Lagos. On his bedside table he found the following books: the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, the Koran, three copies of Watchtower (the magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses), a biography of Karl Marx, a book of Yoga exercises, and a popular paperback entitled How to Stop Worrying.

How then should we respond to the spirit of pluralism? I suggest with great humility and with no tinge of personal superiority, we must continue to affirm the uniqueness and finality of Jesus Christ. He is unique in his incarnation (the one and only God-man). He is unique in his atonement (only he has died for the sins of the world), and unique in his resurrection (for he has conquered death). And since in no other person but Jesus of Nazareth did God first become human (in his birth), then bear our sins (in his death) and then triumph over death (in his resurrection), he is uniquely competent to save. Nobody else possesses his qualifications. We may talk about Alexander the Great, Charles the Great and Napoleon the Great, but not Jesus the Great. Jesus is not the Great, he is the Only. Jesus has no rivals and Jesus has no successors.

2. The Challenge of Materialism

To those of us who have had any experience of Majority World poverty, the western world is almost unbearably affluent. To visit a North American or West European supermarket is to be exposed to a choice of goods so wide as to be positively bewildering. Such wealth leads naturally into materialism.

Materialism is not an affirmation of the material order. In that sense all Christians would be materialists because we believe in the created order (God has given us all things richly to enjoy), in the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, in the waters of baptism and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Christianity has been described as the most materialist of all religions. But no. Materialism is a preoccupation with material things, until they smother our spiritual life. We need to hear again the words of Jesus 'Don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth' (Matthew 6:19). Again, 'Beware of covetousness, a human life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions' (Luke 12:15). That is, there is more to life than money and property.

In addition, we need to listen to the words of the apostle Paul, who also calls us away from covetousness to a lifestyle of simplicity, generosity and contentment. 'Godliness with contentment is great gain', he wrote (1 Timothy 6:6). 'For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it' (1 Tim. 6:7). As Job put it, 'naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart! (Job 1:21). Thus, life on earth is a pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness. So we will be wise to travel light.

After the funeral of a wealthy lady in the community, a worshipper was brash enough to ask the officiating minister 'How much did she leave?' To this question he had the wisdom to reply 'She left everything'. Thus Paul went on: 'If we have food and clothing' (including shelter) and (I think we may legitimately add) whatever else we can justify as reasonable necessities in our particular context, 'we will be content with that' (1 Tim. 6:8).

I read long ago of a young man who found a $5 bill on the street. 'From that time on he never lifted his eyes when walking. in the course of years he accumulated 29,516 buttons, 54,172 pins, 12 cents, a bent back and a miserly disposition!' Think what he lost. He lost the glory of the sunlight, the sheen of the stars, the smile of his friends, the blossoms in the spring, the blue skies above and the entire joy of living.' All because his eyes were in the gutter!

I am afraid I know some Christians like that. They are materialists. We need to lift up our eyes for the first glimmer of light that tells us that Christ is on his way. We are pilgrims on our way home.

3. The Challenge of Relativism

All round us moral standards are slipping, certainly in the West, and increasingly elsewhere as television creates a mono-culture. People are confused as to whether there are any moral absolutes left. Relativism has permeated our culture, and is seeping into the church. Here is a bit of doggerel which illustrates the meaning of ethical relativism:

It all depends on where you are, It all depends on who you are, It all depends on what you feel, It all depends on how you feel. It all depends on how you're raised, It all depends on what is praised, What's right today is wrong tomorrow, Joy in France, in America sorrow. It all depends on point of view, Australia or Timbuctoo, In Rome do as the Romans do. If tastes just happen to agree Then you have morality. But where there are conflicting trends, It all depends, it all depends ...

There is no sphere in which this relativism is more obvious than that of sexual ethics and the sexual revolution which has taken place since the 1960s. It used to be universally accepted (at least where the Judaeo-Christian ethic had penetrated) that marriage is a monogamous, heterosexual, loving and lifelong union, and the only God-given context for sexual intimacy.

But today, even in some churches, cohabitation before marriage (even cohabitation without marriage) is widely practised, dispensing with that commitment which is essential to an authentic marriage; while same-sex partnerships are being promoted as a legitimate alternative to heterosexual marriage. And in the West one marriage in two or three ends in divorce.

It is sometimes said by people who should know better that Jesus did not address these issues. But he did. He quoted Genesis 1:27 'he who made them in the beginning made them male and female'. Then he quoted Genesis 2:24, the biblical definition of marriage: 'therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two but one, and what God has joined together, let no human being separate.' In other words, Jesus affirmed that God created our heterosexuality, and that he instituted heterosexual marriage, and he endorsed this teaching with his own divine authority.

So the fundamental question before us today is who is the Lord? Is the church the lord of Jesus Christ, so that it has liberty to edit and manipulate his teaching, accepting what it likes and rejecting what it dislikes? Or is Jesus Christ our teacher and Lord, so that we believe and obey his teaching? He still says to us: 'Why do you call the Lord, lord, and do not do what I say?' (Luke 6:46). To confess Jesus as Lord but not obey him, is to build our lives on a foundation of sand. To engage in mission while living in disobedience is a contradiction in terms.

Here then are two cultures, two value-systems, two standards and two lifestyles. On the one hand there is the fashion of the world and what is regarded as 'politically correct'. On the other side there is the revealed, good and pleasing will of God (Romans 12:2). Radical disciples have little difficulty in making their choice.

Conclusion

We have considered some of the main contemporary challenges of the world to the church, in the face of which the church is called not to feeble-minded conformity but to radical non-conformity. Over against the challenge of pluralism we are to be a community of truth, maintaining the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Over against the challenge of materialism, we are to be a community of pilgrimage and simplicity. Over against the challenge of relativism we are to be a community of righteousness and obedience. This is God's call to us to be different from the prevailing culture.

Thus is why Karl Barth called Christian ethics 'the great disturbance', because it violently upsets our tranquil status quo. And this is why C.S. Lewis called Jesus 'a transcendental interferer'. We are not to be like reeds shaken by the wind, Jesus said, bowing down before the gusts of public opinion, but as immovable as rocks in a mountain stream. We are not to be like fish floating with the stream ('only dead fish swim with the current', said Malcolm Muggeridge), but to swim against the stream, even against the cultural mainstream. We are not to be like chameleons, lizards which change their colour according to their surroundings, but to stand out visibly against our surroundings.

What then are Christians to be like, if we are not to be like reeds, dead fish or chameleons? Is God's Word entirely negative, insisting that we are not to conform to the world around us? No, indeed not. God's Word is positive as well as negative. We are to be like Christ.

I think we would find it helpful to keep three biblical texts together, which all make Christ-likeness God's purpose for his people.

Firstly, it is God's eternal purpose because we have been 'predestined to be conformed to the image of God's Son' (Romans 8:29). Secondly, it is God's is God's historical purpose, for we 'are being transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another' (2 Corinthians 3:18). Thirdly, it is God's eschatological or ultimate purpose, for, though we do not yet know what we will be, we do know that 'we will be like him, because we will see him as he is' (1 John 3:2). Thus from a past eternity to a future eternity, through the process of time, God's unchanging purpose is that, instead of being conformed to the fashions of the world, we will be conformed to the image of his Son.

I sometimes wonder if anything is more essential to evangelism than the Christ-likeness of the evangelist. As John Poulton wrote: 'The most effective preaching (or evangelism) comes from those who embody the things they are saying. They are their message. Christians need to look like what they are talking about ... what communicates now is basically personal authenticity.' (A Today Form of Evangelism by John Poulton, Lutterworth 1972, pp. 60-61, 79).

Let us pray! O that we may be like Christ. God help us!

*I thank God for the gracious opportunity to have been part of the 20,000-plus audience that listened to this presentation in late 2003 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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The chosen vessel

2006-04-04T23:51:00.000+03:00

Author Unknown Apr 4, 2006

The Master was s earching for a vessel to use; On the shelf there were many - which one would He choose? Take me, cried the gold one, I'm shiny and bright, I'm of great value and I do things just right. My beauty and luster will outshine the rest And for someone like You, Master, gold would be the best!

The Master passed on with no word at all; He looked at a silver urn, narrow and tall; I'll serve You, dear Master, I'll pour out Your wine And I'll be at Your table whenever You dine, My lines are so graceful, my carvings so true, And my silver will always compliment You.

Unheeding the Master passed on to the brass, It was widemouthed and shallow, an d polished like glass. Here! Here! cried the vessel, I know I will do, Place me on Your table for all men to view.

Look at me, called the goblet of crystal so clear, My transparency shows my contents so dear, Though fragile am I, I will serve You with pride, And I'm sure I'll be happy in Your house to abide. The Master came next to a vessel of wood, Polished and carved, it solidly stood. You may use me, dear Master, the wooden bowl said,

But I'd rather You used me for fruit, not for bread! Then the Master looked down and saw a vessel of clay. Empty and broken it helplessly lay. No hope had the vessel that the Master might cho ose, To cleanse and make whole, to fill and to use.

Ah! This is the vessel I've been hoping to find, I will mend and use it and make it all Mine. I need not the vessel with pride of its self; Nor the one who is narrow to sit on the shelf; Nor the one who is bigmouthed and shallow and loud; Nor one who displays his contents so proud; Not the one who thinks he can do all things just right; But this plain earthy vessel filled with My power and might. Then gently He lifted the vessel of clay. Mended and cleansed it and filled it that day. Spoke to it kindly. There's work you must do, Just pour out to others as I pour into you. Jer. 10:10 There is a power so strong it will make the rulers of this world tremble.

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Dear God....

2006-04-03T22:10:00.000+03:00

Father, ambition is slavery and so is desire for wealth; true ambition and religion is to overcome all these and be content with food, clothing and heaven for a possesion and ambition. Fill my heart with heaven, not fulfilled desires that beset others. So save me Lord from my constant fear that you shall have others in the inner chambers who know more fully your love; the apostles, prophets, confessors and martyrs. This will forever be for me the subtle temptation, desire to be in your perfected love; save me O Lord from its fire, for what ability have I to deserve your right hand and left hand? What have I in me to accept any suffering? Lord, I can deserve nothing but I confess myself of a heart in bondage to get your best for helpless me, have mercy on me Lord, guard my heart and uphold my will; to will is with me, but to perform is beyond my will. You are the willer and worker, my hope for deliverance is in thy strength alone and guidance; my tender insistence till you know it is to you that I speak, - little pressure, gentle but clear to the seeking heart. *I'm the guy in white....in the picture. Nothing moves my soul like worship of the Most High Living God; nothing! For those among you who faithfully read my blog but have never had a personal experience with your Maker, you do not know what you are missing! Seriously! If you need us to reason together about that, do get in touch with me via my site's address that's available on the homepage. For those among you who are born-again but are not sharing about the Lord's love and grace for humanity, you do not know what eternity will demand of you on that Great day of the Lord when all known and unknown history shall culminate before His throne. Do redeem the time for the days are evil. So much for now. Every blessing! Jesse.

The True Hero of the Titanic

2006-04-03T15:13:00.000+03:00

By DAVID LANGERSFELD Apr 3, 2006

John Harper was born to a pair of solid Christian parents on May 29th, 1872. It was on the last Sunday of March 1886, when he was thirteen years old that he received Jesus as the Lord of his life. He never knew what it was to "sow his wild oats." He began to preach about four years later at the ripe old age of 17 years by going down to the streets of his village and pouring out his soul in earnest entreaty for men to be reconciled to God.

As John Harper's life unfolded, one thing was apparent...he was consumed by the word of God. When asked by various ministers what his doctrine consisted of, he was known to reply "The Word of God!" After five or six years of toiling on street corners preaching the gospel and working in the mill during the day, Harper was taken in by Rev. E. A. Carter of Baptist Pioneer Mission in London, England. This set Harper free to devote his whole time of energy to the work so dear to his heart. Soon, John Harper started his own church in September of 1896. (Now known as the Harper Memorial Church). This church which John Harper had started with just 25 members, had grown to over 500 members when he left 13 years later. During this time he had gotten married, but was shortly there after widowed. However brief the marriage, God did bless John Harper with a beautiful little girl named Nana.

Ironically, John Harper almost drowned several times during his life. When he was two and a half years of age, he almost drowned when he fell into a well but was resuscitated by his mother. At the age of twenty-six, he was swept out to sea by a reverse current and barely survived, and at thirty-two he faced death on a leaking ship in the Mediterranean. Perhaps, God used these experiences to prepare this servant for what he faced next.......

It was the night of April 14, 1912. The RMS Titanic sailed swiftly on the bitterly cold ocean waters heading unknowingly into the pages of history. On board this luxurious ocean liner were many rich and famous people. At the time of the ship's launch, it was the world's largest man-made moveable object. At 11:40 p.m. on that fateful night, an iceberg scraped the ship's starboard side, showering the decks with ice and ripping open six watertight compartments. The sea poured in.

On board the ship that night was John Harper and his much-beloved six-year-old daughter Nana. According to documented reports, as soon as it was apparent that the ship was going to sink, John Harper immediately took his daughter to a lifeboat. It is reasonable to assume that this widowed preacher could have easily gotten on board this boat to safety; however, it never seems to have crossed his mind. He bent down and kissed his precious little girl; looking into her eyes he told her that she would see him again someday. The flares going off in the dark sky above reflected the tears on his face as he turned and headed towards the crowd of desperate humanity on the sinking ocean liner. As the rear of the huge ship began to lurch upwards, it was reported that Harper was seen making his way up the deck yelling "Women, children and unsaved into the lifeboats!" It was only minutes later that the Titanic began to rumble deep within. Most people thought it was an explosion; actually the gargantuan ship was literally breaking in half. At this point, many people jumped off the decks and into the icy, dark waters below. John Harper was one of these people.

That night 1528 people went into the frigid waters. John Harper was seen swimming frantically to people in the water leading them to Jesus before the hypothermia became fatal. Mr. Harper swam up to one young man who had climbed up on a piece of debris. Rev. Harper asked him between breaths, "Are you saved?" The young man replied that he was not.

Harper then tried to lead him to Christ only to have the young man who was near shock, reply no. John Harper then took off his life jacket and threw it to the man and said "Here then, you need this more than I do..." and swam away to other people. A few minutes later Harper swam back to the young man and succeeded in leading him to salvation. Of the 1528 people that went into the water that night, six were rescued by the lifeboats. One of them was this young man on the debris. Four years later, at a survivors meeting, this young man stood up and in tears recounted how John Harper had led him to Christ. Mr. Harper had tried to swim back to help other people, yet because of the intense cold, had grown too weak to swim. His last words before going under in the frigid waters were "Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Does Hollywood remember this man? No. Oh well, no matter. This servant of God did what he had to do. While other people were trying to buy their way onto the lifeboats and selfishly trying to save their own lives, John Harper gave up his life so that others could be saved.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends..." John Harper was truly the hero of the Titanic!

From "The Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations" by Paul Lee Tan. Source for the article: "The Titanic's Last Hero" by Moody Adams. Published by Olive Press, 1997.

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Karibuni mabibi na mabwana!

2006-04-03T00:39:00.000+03:00

Wasomaji wapendwa - Nimetiwa moyo kuanza kublogu katika Kiswahili na kumbukumbu niliyo nayo kwa heshima ya waalimu wangu wa Kiswahili nilokuwa nao tangu darasa la kwanza hadi shule ya upili. Hivi namshukuru marehemu Bi. Rose Okello, Bi. Akoto, Bw. Obed, Bw. Misiko na Bi. Maloba. Kidogo nilikaribia kuupoteza ubingwa walonipa hao mabibi na mabwana nilipoelekea chuo kikuu nchini Kenya na Marekani, walakin kazi yangu ya uandishi habari ilizidi kunikumbusha kitambo kile kitamu:-) Pia nawashukuru marafiki zangu toka Kenya na Tanzania ambao, kwa bidii yao katika kutunza usanifu wa lugha hii tukufu, wamenitia moyo kuzingatia mwendo huu. Mwisho, nawashukuru wazee wangu ambao - tofauti kabisa na Wakenya wengi - wazingatia umuhimu wa kuzungumza na kuandika Kiswahili sanifu. Blogu hii itawapeni habari zote nitakazochapisha kwenye ile blogu yangu ya Kiingereza, yaani Kenyananalyst. Ni matumaini yangu kuwa sitowanyimeni ukweli na utamu mnaostahili kwa kuwa wasomaji wangu waaminifu katika lugha hii "mpya" namna mlivyokuwa upande wa pili. Karibuni tena na Mungu awabariki! Mwenzenu, Yesse.

"A planetary event is going to take place above the Earth"

2006-04-02T00:11:00.000+03:00

By DR. DAVID OWUOR

Kindly note that that the Lord spoke with me last night about a planetary event that will take place above the Earth.

There will be a few moons clustering and a planet with its moon orbiting will come close.

Space scientists will discover this event and it will be reported in the news.

These will be the fulfillment of the end-time prophecy of wonders in the Heavens as recorded in Joel 2:28-32.

"28. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all the flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your youngmen shall see visions: 29. and also upon the servants and upon the handsmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. 30. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31. the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. 32. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."

Source: http://jesusislordministries.blogspot.com

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Conje, you were not decongested; I saw it!

2006-04-01T18:59:00.000+03:00

It just ended. Conje should have won it on points, surely!

Reflection: The most important thing is to obey...

2006-04-01T17:41:00.000+03:00

Hi,

Growing up, obedience was emphasized, and the intricate importance of obeying is indeed selecting who to obey… consequently, as we obey, we have a responsibility to obey the right persons and in more significant decisions, evaluate what to obey.

Repeatedly, we witness public servants, leaders, our families and ourselves in the position “I was only obeying orders”, sometimes and indeed on most occasions, an excuse.

None of us chooses our end really, a king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who note u be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you can’t say "but I was told by another to do thus" or that virtue "was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.

From the movie, Kingdom of Heaven

As we make choices who to obey, God be with us all…

Regards

Charles, Strathmore University.

Owuor: Iran quakes have come as predicted

2006-03-31T13:33:00.000+03:00

By DR. DAVID OWUOR In an interview carried on your site a few days ago, I shared that the Lord had asked me to warn about upcomig earthquakes in, among other countries, Iran.

Both CNN and the BBC have reported that an earthquake has hit Iran and the death toll is rising. Iran was called by name in the online sharing I had on this site; speedy and record fulfillment of prophecy towards the end-times. This was from the Lord and He said that it is merely the beginning of birth-pangs around the world. Now the Iranian massive earthquake is in Kenyan news, particularly local radio and television. Further news and updates may be found at my blog, which is now in use. I expect to post some of the audio and video messages you have been requesting for on it in the next few days, access to which will be free.

Who's Your Daddy?

2006-03-31T10:07:00.000+03:00

By DAVID LANGERSFELD Mar 29, 2006

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't come over here."

But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. "Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice. "Oklahoma," they answered.

"Great to have you here in Tennessee." the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?"

"I teach at a seminary." he replied. "Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple. The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great... Just what I need... another preacher story!"

The man started, "See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, Who's Your Daddy?'

Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's Your Daddy?' He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad.

When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's Your Daddy?'. But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, Who's Your Daddy?'

The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your Daddy'. This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy...

'Wait a minute!' he said. 'I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' He patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'

With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God'." The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that a great story?" The professor responded that it really was a great story!

As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!" And he walked away.

The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked her, "Do you know who that man was who just left that was sitting at our table?"

The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of Tennessee!"

Someone in your life today needs a reminder that they are one of God's children! "For you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 'Abba, Father'. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit, that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16)

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Updates from Dr. Owuor

2006-03-30T16:11:00.000+03:00

Hi guys - Dr. Owuor has added further insights to parts of the interview that I carried here a few days ago. Please visit the updated version of the interview by clicking here. I'll let you know: 1. If and when I'll have received anything new from his end. 2. He has operationalized a site he is coming up with which should be more dedicated to updating you on the message he believes God has placed on his heart for Kenya and the world at large. Jesse.

Memo to Mzee Moi, Biwott, Kosgey, et al

2006-03-29T10:21:00.000+03:00

Kit nebo kamanut eng bikap Keiyo / Nandi, etc konai ng'olyondoni...... Mwaei ichek kole (kit nenyolo koro ak kobwat Arap Moi Biwott ak Kosgey eng Arap Ruto) "Chepkisas ko tatun kechomei."

Nyolu konai Arap Moi, Biwott ak Kosgey kole chang bikap Kalenjin chetomo konyor imanda eng icheget kou ichek che bunu Trans-Nzoia, Mt. Elgon, West Pokot, Marakwet, etc.

And now the same message for the benefit of those among us who don't know a wee bit of Kalenjin....:-)

It's vital that, in the context of the Moi-Biwott-Kosgey vs Ruto duel, the Kalenjin people understand that..... That their own people have a saying to the effect that "he who is despised now might be useful in the days to come."

The Moi-Biwott-Kosgey axis needs to understand that not all ordinary Kalenjins support them on this matter; including those from Trans-Nzoia, West Pokot, Marakwet, Mt. Elgon, etc.

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Why I'm a Christian

2006-03-28T15:18:00.000+03:00

By MAYA ANGELOU (as forwarded by Victor Komanyo)

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."

I'm whispering "I was lost,

Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble

and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed

And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible

But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I still feel the sting of pain.

I have my share of heartaches

So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not holier than thou,

I'm just a simple sinner

Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Cry, my beloved country, more are still dying!!!!!

2006-03-27T22:47:00.000+03:00

THE BIG INTERVIEW: Dr. Owuor on his life, ministry.....and new prophecies

2006-03-23T23:37:00.000+03:00

Dear readers, following your sustained readership of this blog and endless questions concerning some of the stories I have published here, I have had to follow up on one that I think has dominated your interest the most as evidenced by your comments and e-mails. Two days ago, I met with and interviewed Dr. David Owuor for nearly five hours following your queries about his life and ministry. I should, from the very outset, state that the transcript I'm offering here is in no way definitive about the chat we had; there's much detail I have ommitted for reasons beyond my control. There is a limit to what I can say here, mostly for security reasons. I should also state that I'll make every attempt not to inject my personal opinion into my recollections of the chat I had with Dr. Owuor; I hope to God you will be in a position to read and make your own independent conclusions. The October 23rd, 2005 edition of Kenya Times has a good summary of the man's personal story, details of which I have opted to overlook in my piece (including mentions of some events he says are yet to occur). I'm in the process of getting the audio and video copies of some messages from his office for your considered consumption. Those among you with the know-how of how such may be uploaded on this blog are welcome to share your expertise via the e-mail address on my homepage the soonest you possibly can. Happy reading! Jesse. Q. Who is David the man? What is the story of your beginnings? A. I was born in Yimbo, Bondo District. I studied sciences at Makerere University and the University of Nairobi. I later proceeded to study and work in other countries, specifically the Ben-Gurion University in Haifa, Israel where undertook my Ph.D studies in molecular genetics, otherwise known as the "science of the future." I also took up a post-doctoral fellowship in the United States with a specific interest in gene sequencing and signal transduction. I progressed further in these fields. Q. How did you come to understand that you had a calling to what you now know as the ministry God has called you to? A. I came to faith in 1987 when, while Uganda was still fluid politically, I asked God to take me safely from Western Kenya into Uganda and back as I tried to transfer my credits from Makerere to Nairobi. I told God that if He did it for me, I would consider giving Him my life; I would live for Him. Suprisingly, the Ugandan soldiers were unexpectedly most helpful to me throughout; I was never harassed. I didn't notice it at the time but my spiritual journey with God had actually began. I was never serious with Him thereafter but He still pursued me. In my office in Haifa, Jewish colleagues would peep through my doorway and shout jokingly: "Remember Moses!" They were neither Christians nor Judaists, but their reference to Moses left me wondering what they were about. Later, after I had moved to the US, the same references were used again but now to a clearer end. One day as I walked through Chicago, a man drove and pulled up besides me and said: "Man, are you aware that as you were walking a brilliantly blinding light had enveloped you, thus blocking my view of the way? You know, like Moses...do you remember Moses?" Q. What happened? A. That's when the Haifa incidents came back to mind. I decided to talked to the LORD and asked HIM as to whether it was HE that had put the brilliant LIGHT that all were seing and asking "Do you remember Moses?" Then the LORD appeared to me that Night in my apartment house and I was fightened and tried to run away.....After the LORD appeared to me, HE sent me the PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT who started talking to me in mighty visions and dreams about the mission. HE started showing me the different churches in the world all the things that were to happen and those things started happenning. Then the LORD commanded me to leave to the churches after another visitation in a dream on the 3rd of July 2003. At first it was a great struggle but when the LORD appeared to me and physically touched my mouth and then lifted me from one room to the next in my house and wrote on the wall ISAIAH 43:11 and ISAIAH 43:1 on the wall for me. So I woke up and understood that HE had called me out for HIMSELF. Q. Whose son are you spiritually? Who is your mentor and how has your journey in faith been like? A. After I got convicted concerning my calling, I tried to get closer to some known American Christian leaders to mentor me but got no further with any one of them. There was a pastor I went to and shared my encounters with the Lord and the new direction I believed He was leading me to; the pastor just said there was no way they thought they could be of help to me in the circumstances. Another prominent leader involved in prophetic ministry in the US was least helpful; he appeard more eager to exploit rather than walk with me in my spiritual journey. Another one who appears regularly on Kenyan television just couldn't meet me as he was having an outreach meeting in London. I found myself having to just learn on the mill with the Lord Himself. The Lord turned Himself into my ultimate mentor in the despair, doubts, questions and even pain I had trying to find my footing in ministry. A while later (after the 2002 elections), it became clear to me that he needed me to return and serve Him here (in Kenya). Q. Ahead of this interview, a reader sent me an e-mail saying: "Please ask Dr. Owuor why all his prophecies are ever tragic. God has never spoken to him on good things about Kenya and the world. At times it's very scary to hear him. My family stopped watching his television programme long time. Ask him his view on Good News. The Bible is good news to humanity. Ask him why Jesus never spoke on the devil many times yet he does. I don't miss him." How does such a take on your ministry sit with you? A. These events were prophecies by Christ JESUS HIMSELF in Matthew 24 and now HE has sent me and shows them to me and when I prophecy them they do come to pass. This is actually the true GOODNEWS because these prophecies talk about the beginning of birth pain and hence the Nearing of the coming of the LORD for the church. So the fact that they are being fullfulled is VERY GOODNEWS and we as christians should not fear these prophecies. Instaed we should prepare in REPENTANCE for the Innevitable EndTime, the GLORIOUS COMING OF THE LORD. Remember the LORD has Spoken to me about the Rapture and the SECOND COMING, so they will for sure happen sooner than the church thought. The God of Israel has a zero tolerance for sin. I won't soften what He asks me to proclaim just so as to win anyone's approval. I have a mission to tell it as it is. If people change, judgement won't happen. The Church has not taught the true God who judges sin. Q. What is your understanding of the role that theological education plays in ministry? A. The best teacher is the Holy Spirit, not the different schools of thought that inform theological training in most Bible and theology schools. Equally sad, there is no capturing of God's vision because people are training for ministry as a proffession. It is pointless trying to lead people to a spiritual and visionary God from such a position. It is an indictment of many among us who are looking to start Churches as a business. People are building personal kingdoms and empires with wrong, spiritual foundations in the name of God. Their training is preparing them for ministry as a gateway to wealth. Their preaching is horizontally heavy on flesh and blood, never vertical enough to help their congregants meet God on His own terms (I Cor. 15:50). That's not a good model anyhow. Q. What is your understanding of the difference between faith and reason? A. Faith builds on spiritual being, not empirical manifestation. Once you build your faith, anything in the physical can happen. Faith is irrational. Reason, on the other hand, seeks empirical evidence. The Church has not built her faith. Healing, restoration, etc would come our way if we had faith. The Church should focus on building faith over reason. The miracle industry has boomed because people have lacked faith. We should not depend on miracles to reach God. Consequently, some ministers are lying to their congregations because they (the ministers) have not believed God can use them to do what they lie about. Q. Where do both the Church and the nation stand concerning the judgement of God over the land? Will God remember mercy or are we still in the danger zone? A. Both are currently in judgement. The altar of the Lord has to be restored. The judgement in the house of God is going to be most severe. Q. What is God saying about the national prayer and repentance done by individual believers and Churches last year? What is the current state of Kenya after that repentance day? A. It's not over yet. God is not yet done with Kenya. God is serious about that. God definitely appreciates last year's prayers and repentance, but it isn't over yet. We are in judgement. Look at the drought that hit Kenya, the drought I had warned about, the many people I said I had been shown by the LORD as leaving their homes in large numbers and going to unknown, SURELY we so this happening till now. People lost cattle and left homes in search for water and food and death occured. The LORD is asking for REPENTANCE; HE is faithful. Recently in Nakuru HE wrote for me HIS JUDGMENT in the SKY and I have warned Kenya of the urgent need to repent. HE further showed me very very thin cattle and this isJudgment.Q. They say that a nation's state of affairs is a reflection of the manifest spiritual condition of the Church inside such a nation. How does such a maxim sit with you regarding the present state of affairs in the country? A. The Church is a mirror of the State. Kenya needs the Church for direction because the Church speaks to the Lord. The Church prayed to the Lord for a new government in 2002, but rested easy thereafter believing that it had accomplished its mission. Right now, it has no authority to point fingers at anyone in preaching the gospel of corruption as it is mired in the same in ways that would make the government even look clean. There's rape in the country because there is rape in the Church; there is poor leadership in the country because there is poor leadership in the Church. And the list goes on and on. The Church needed to teach holiness. What we have today in the way of exposed ills in the Church is just the tip of the iceberg. Q. What specific sins have believers and non-believers been committing to warrant the repentance message you have been preaching? A. Sexual immorality, love of money, lying, false prophecies, etc. People are exalting money, what with the fake health and wealth prosperity gospel from the USA. A further word on sexual immorality may be appropriate. The other day I saw a disturbing advert ahead of the 7 O'clock news on one of the local TV stations. A mother was telling her daughter that she could sleep around as long as her boyfriend had a condom on. The levels to which we have sunk in accomodating pre-marital sex are just too low. God is mad! Holiness has been thrown out of the Church too. Condoms can easily be found in Church compounds after kesha (vigil) nights. We are more inclined to turn our Churches into entertainment and performance centers for fun and comedy; the more you laugh, the better the Church, we seem to be saying. The gospel of panda mbegu (sow the seed) which came from Satan the devil is the gospel they are preaching as a symbol of their success as custodians of the altar of the Lord. It is now about the sizes of cars, houses, bank accounts, etc and less about the narrow path and cross of the Lord. Q. Do you have tangible evidence on some section of the clergy's use of demonic powers to serve God as has been reported that you claim? A. Yes, there is massive evidence. Witchdoctors have come out speaking about some of them who have been to see them over their services (Editor's note: Some details ommitted). Q. Where do you place the Bible in your predictions and your claim of prophecy? How Biblical and accurate is the statement "God has commanded us to repent so that the Church can prepare for the rapture?" Does the repentance of the Church in Kenya, therefore, guarantee an immediate rapture? And whatever happened to Jesus' coming like a thief in the night? A. There is nothing the LORD speaks to you about that you dont find in the Bible. Remember the Asian Tsunami (see appendix below), Katrina, Pakistani Quake, EA Quake, Australian Storm on now (prophesied in Kitale on the June 4th 2005; see tapes of messages) etc that the LORD showed me earlier and finally happened. You find these in Matthew 24 when the LORD said in the End will come the Beginning of Birth Pain.There is nothing the Lord tells you about anything that you cannot find in the Bible. The Lord is sending forth His word through His servants in these last days. These are merely the beginnings of intense birth-pangs for the entire world. The end is nigh. People, get ready! Q. What thoughts are there on Jewish-Muslim relations in this age? And can you add any insights on Jewish breakthroughs in recognizing Christ as their Messiah? A. That land is precious to the Lord and Jewish leaders who have thought otherwise have in recent years had to learn that lesson the hard way (Editor's note: Some details ommitted). Spiritually, it is not yet over for the Jews. God has a plan for them. Those are His beloved. He has a covenant with them. He is bringing many of them into the saving knowledge of His Son and will continue to do that. Q. What do you call yourself - a prophet, prophet of doom, or God's special spokesman on matters of calamities and repentance? A. It is up to the people that listen to the prophecies the LORD has given me and monitoring their fulfillment that can now decide for themselves what to call me. Deuteronomy 18 says very clearly that if a man prophesies something and it comes to pass, that man I have spoken with and is my prophet, and if a man prophecies and it doesn't come to pass that man has spoken presumptiously and I have not spoken with him, so do not fear him. Q. What is next in the pipeline, any predictions...especially on the Church as well as the current state of politics in Kenya? A. The Lord used me to speak about the Asian tsunami, tremors that hit Kenya, Tanzania and the Great Lakes region last year, the ongoing Avian Flu and other major events around the world. He has impressed on my heart that a third of the world, including Iran, Russia and Germany is going to be hit by a major earthquake. The Church in Kenya and the country itself is in judgement and will need every prayer to go through some difficult moments ahead of it (Editor's note: Some details ommitted). Q. Has God revealed to you anything on the country's future President? A. No, He hasn't but He will with time. Q. What should the Church in Kenya do to be able to send missionaries to unreached people groups in Kenya and other nations? A. Reaching to the many who are constantly ebbing into an eternity, damned in Hell and forever separated from God should be the Church's greatest humanitarian emergency. The Church must restore the Lord's altar for missions. It must also position itself for the latter rains of God's saving grace upon the unreached people groups in and outside Kenya. The floodgates of Heaven are going to open again. Q. What would a transformed Kenya look like for you? A. A Kenya that would reflect a nation hit by revival that brings repentance and holiness. Q. How is your prayerlife? A. I have to pray. APPENDIX: COPY OF E-MAIL SENT OUT BY DR. OWUOR AHEAD OF THE ASIAN TSUNAMI AND NEW ORLEANS KATRINA

Date:	Thu, 25 Nov 2004 01:33:29 -0800 (PST)
From:	E-MAIL ADDRESS OMMITTED BY EDITOR
Subject:	The LORD GOD Has Spoken Again
To:	"E-MAIL ADDRESS OMMITTED BY EDITOR>

HTML Attachment [ | ]

Shalom Apostle Nuyo,

I am holding a meeting with my team today for the second time.

The LORD is going to build a holy church here.

Nuyo, the LORD GOD talked to me this morning VERY VERY STRONGLY BY HIS VOICE beginning 12:30 am until 6 am in the morning.

Nuyo, the LORD is so mad and has asked me to pass a Judgement on the Eastern Religions and New Age Religions. He has HE asked me to shave my head and beard and showed me blood on my hands i a vision, if I dont warn them.

He said I should warn them (the whle world and especially Africa and Asia), that if they dont repent in Christ Jesus, HIS Judgement will come upon them and he concluded

"AND THEY SHALL KNOW THAT THE LORD GOD HAS SPOKEN"

It was such a tough night, but you know, I am with the LORD GOD, and I love HIM because HE is the Eternal KING.

He showed me a great vision in which many peple died from floods.

In the vision HE put me in there and showed me how it was impossible to save any body in this HISTORIC floods coming soon. Please inform the prophets about this new move of the Lord GOD HIMSELF. To hear HIS VOICE issuch a MIGHTY Experience, Amen

I am going to preach this for the first time today.

Thanks Hno Nuyo, May the LORD bless you and your family,

In Christ JESUS,

Hno David

Weekly Citizen article on "Raila's secret spy network"

2006-03-22T00:39:00.000+03:00

In his famous book the 48 Laws of Power, author Robert Green advises those who want to be succesful leaders to be as cunning as foxeswhen dealing with both friend and foe. In rule number 14 titled 'Pose as a friend, work as a spy', he states: 'Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still, play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weakness and intentions. There is no ocassion that is no opportunity for artful spying." Raila Amolo Odinga - the politician affectionately nicknamed Agwambo by his supporters - is a man who has perfected this art of spying on both friends and enemies and the noxious merceneries saga is the latest and most credible case that has proved claims that the Lang'ata MP runs a very effective parallel secret spy system. THE MP, using this elaborate network, has effectively infiltrated key state institutions including the police force which falls under the office of the president, the sensitive immigration ministry whose headquarters are at Nyayo House, the Kenya Ports' Authority, the Registrar of Companies and Kenya Revenue Authority's motor vehicle registration department. Additionally, the MP, a political strategist of no mean repute, has a formidable information gathering machinery whose work is to collect and process as much intelligence as possible on his real and perceived enemies. For instance, during his political duels with the late Vice-President Wamalwa Kijana, he enlisted the services of a Wamalwa kin who had 24-hour access to Wamalwa to effectively monitor his rival's activities. It is said Raila capitalized on the infighting among the late Senator William Wamalwa's siblings to achieve the spying aim. Using the relative, Wamalwa was able to receive information on which people had spoken to, where he had slept and the cars he had used. It should be recalled that Wamalwa was always ridiculed as a politician who liked watching cartoons, the favourite being Tom and Jerry. This information is said to have been passed to the public after Raila received it from the Wamalwa kin. Indeed Wamalwa enjoyed watching cartoons, at times at the expense of very important functions. And while he served as minister in the Moi cabinet and untill recently the Kibaki cabinet, raila made sure that he had all the necessary intelligence on all ministers, particularly those from Nyanza province opposed to his politics. Word has it that last year, a Luo minister warned his driver and bodyguards to stop associating with Raila's bodyguards and drivers. This was after the minister discovered that Raila's bodyguards and drivers had a habit of talking ill of their boss openly, claiming he was arogant and mean. This was a strategy to get others talking about their bosses, information that was passed on to Raila. This way, the enigmatic MP learnt a lot of secrets on the ministers. An insider in Raila's camp says through such networks, the Lang'ata MP has gathered massive intelligence on practically all the important politicians in the country. "Agwambo knows which politician coughs at night, their favorite drinks, love affairs, business associates and investments and of course bank accounts," said the insider who did not want to be named. A shrewd political operative, he has a secret security network which travels ahead of him during public functions including weddings and funerals. The politician has very strong contacts in the media, ussually at senior management and editorial levels. These contacts brief him on all the news that touch on him or his political interests before the information is made public. Last week when the alleged Armenian mercenery, Artur Margayan visited Standard Group offices, Raila aides were spotted at I&M Buildings in a white Peugeot vehicle registration KWS 606 an hour before the controversial businessman arrived. A Lang'ata councillor, Opete Opete, was also spotted at the press conference. What he was doing there is anyone's guess. The two well-built men kept on talking on mobile phones and when the alleged mercenery was forced to flee a lynch mob, one of Raila's men was heard communication the information to a second party. That the government is concerned and worried about Raila's information gathering machinery was well manifested when an immigration officer suspected to have given Raila details of the Armenians from the Immigration Department was suspended. The officer was suspected to have been instrumental in giving out the photocopies of passports and work permits of the two controversial brothers. Copies of the two passports displayed by Raila to the media indicated that the two men, born in 1970 and 1973 respectively entered Kenya for the first time on January 23, 2006 and were issued with residence visas for two years. The passports also show that the two travelled to Dubai between 2005 and 2006. Weekly Citizen has information that initially the CID thought the copies of passports were not genuine and made a follow-up at Immigration offices. To their suprise, the copies were of genuine passports. And to add insult to injury, Raila went ahead to name the residential house in Runda where the Armenians were staying beside providing information on a truck registration KAU 967W that was seen entering and off-loading materials in the compound before speeding away with occupants. Raila's recent exposes, complete with documentary proof, is said to have caught top CID officers and the staff at the National Intelligence Security Services (NSIS) headquartered at Ruaraka and headed by Michael Gichangi off-step. According to observers, Raila has penetrated a section of the country's intelligence that is giving him useful information that he has been using to embarass the government. A second theory has it that a group of influential personalities who were recently elbowed out of State House after being fingered by former Ethics PS John Githongo is on a revenge mission and could be responsible for the credible adverse information Raila has been releasing with such devastating effects. The fallen group which still enjoys sympathy in various strategic government departments can lay their hands on confidential government documents including those at State House. Last week, state intelligence network were pursuing ODM luminaries for leads on the merceneries, exposing how the raid at the KTN studios and the Standard newspapers at I&M Building and on the Standard press at Likoni Road was excuted on March 2. ODM claims that more foreigners among them Tanzanians including a woman only identified as Shifana are on the government's dirty payroll. They have been issued with police certificates and guns by a CID officer which they used to plan and raid the Standard. Police are puzzled that Raila's network was able to identify the vehicles used in the raid whose registration were given as KAQ 010W, KAU 828Y (white Lexus), and KAP 448Z, a blue Mitsubishi and KAR 4553H, a green Toyota Prado. Raila's underground network has been able to unearth numbers of several vehicles that are available to foreigners. They are KAH 980M, a blue Merceded Benz 320; KAS 501S a Mercedes Benz 320; KAQ 010W and KAU 838Y, both white Lexus; KAT 331P, a white Volvo; KAR 453H Toyota Prado Green; KAU 801P, a grey Land Rover Discovery; KAT 285Y blue Peugeot 406; GK A222H white Subaru; KAS 847F, a blue Mercedes Benz KAQ 215J; blue Subaru and KAP 448Z a blue Mitsubishi. It is suspected Raila has been able to capitalize on the current infighting among Kibaki close confidantes to access sensitive information. For example, queries are being asked how how the fiery MP established that two officers from the presidential escort unit have been deployed as bodyguards and drivers to the foreigners. Our informant tells us that Raila gets sensitive information either directly or from close allies in the business, social and political areas. It is said that Raila's information gatherers are to be found on streets of Nairobu, Mombasa and Kisumu and when they land on information they either call him directly or his aide. The network, according to sources has to verify information. For example if news comes in that Kibaki was planning to visit Kisumu and raila is not aware, the network immediately starts gathering hints from close men associated with Foreign Affairs Minister Raphael Tuju. The reason here is that the president cannot visit Nyanza without Tuju's knowledge. We have established that among politicians Raila has detailed his men to monitor closely are Prof. George Saitoti, Uhuru Kenyatta, Kalonzo Musyoka, Nicholas Biwott, James Orengo, Musalia Mudavadi, Gideon Moi, Najib Balala, David Musila, Musikari Kombo, William Ruto, Mukhisa Kituyi, Simeon Nyachae, Raphael Tuju, Mutula Kilonzo, Fred Gumo and Cyrus Jirongo among others. And within Kibaki's kitchen cabinet, Raila is interested in the activities of Strategic Planning PS Stanley Murage, ministers Njenga Karume, Amos Kimunya, John Michukl and Martha Karua. Francis Muthaura secretaery to the cabinet and head of the civil service, George Muhoho, Eddy Njoroge and Joe Wanjui, Chancellor University of Nairobi. Within the Asian community, is is said the late road contractor Sunil Behal alias "Lord Fupi" used to be Raila's informer. For now Raila, the man who studied in the then Communist East Germany gets tips from a number of Asians in Nairobi who have roots in Kisumu and are fluent in the Luo language, which they use to communicate in five-star hotels. For Raila's security network, he is said to mostly depend on ex-air servicemen who were involved in the 1982 coup. It is this group that is said to have been used as advance party during last year's referendum campaigns. Travelling in hired Nissan vans, with crude weapons, petrol bombs and with mobile phones, they offered security for ODM luminaries throughout the hectic campaign period.

Source: Weekly Citizen, March 20-26th, 2006; pp.1-2.

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True or not, the web is awash with such e-mails as this that someone forwarded to my blog...I don't know the original source!!!

2006-03-20T11:41:00.000+03:00

The following are the request details: Name: mehmet öztürk Sender's country: CzechRepublic Sender's occupation: Clergy Sender's comments: When a Kenyan living here in the Czech Republic showed meyour online edition with pictures of Artur Sargsyan and Artur Margaryan who were claiming that they are heavy bussiness people, I could not believe my eyes. I know both of them and they are not related to the Armenian President. The names they are using is not their original name. Sad that i cant remember their real names. What i know is that both of them were members of the elite Czech Army and they were fired because of selling government arms illegally. There after they moved to Turkeyand were involved in a lot of drug and arms trafficking where the man claiming to be Margaryan was caught and jailed. Since then they disappeared completely only to emerge in Kenya as heavy business men. What i know is they are criminals who will even kill to get money. They are not Armenians as they claim. May be they are using a forged Armenian passport. Be careful Kenyans!!! Mehmet Öztürk

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A Highly Productive Crash

2006-03-18T18:06:00.000+03:00

Mark Greene finds much to ponder in Crash, his film of 2005

Crash is a controversial film that quietly concludes that there is no God. But thats not what made it controversial. Its controversial because it is outrageously politically incorrect on the issue of race. Hispanics mock Chinese to their faces for saying blake instead of brake, blacks mock Hispanics for parking their cars on their lawns, black diners complain that waiters and waitresses never give them good service because black people dont tip well and then the diners dont leave a tip. Indeed, almost every character ends up saying the kind of things lots of nice people think but rarely express.

However, below Crashs multi-racial surface deeper themes swim issues of purpose, of life, death, the human capacity for evil, the human capacity for heroic acts of self-sacrifice and the question of whether anyone knows enough to know anything for certain. Indeed, it is the multi-layered nature that made it for me the most stimulating film of 2005, and certainly a film that provides a fruitful platform for conversation with people whove looked for the presence of a benevolent divine being and not found him, her or it. Because neither does this movie.

The film opens with a crash, significantly just before Christmas. A Chinese woman has rear-ended a car being driven by an off-duty black policeman accompanied by his Puerto-Rican partner professional and sexual. The policeman muses on the metaphysical significance of the moment. Was it a mere accident? Or are there so many crashes in Los Angeles because people are so isolated from one another, so lonely, so thirsty for contact that a crash is the only way to get in touch with others? Like deeply troubled young people who cut their arms their hearts are screaming.

It sounds like blah-humbug but by the end of the film the audience is in no doubt that sometimes a crash, or some tumultuous event can put people back in touch with each other, with themselves or with the reality of their situation. Of course, it can also hurl them apart.

What follows is a flashback over the preceding 36 hours in which the stories of the core cast intersect with one another in evocative, thought-provoking ways. Matt Dillon, for example, plays a bigoted LA cop who pulls over a couple in a luxury four wheel drive. The driver is black and his wife looks Hispanic but turns out later to have been a member of the Varsity equestrian team not what were expecting. The cop body searches the wife in a thoroughly indecent way bad cop. The cops new freshly recruited partner looks on disgusted and requests a transfer and, at some personal cost, he gets it. Good cop.

The following day bad cop confronts good cop and declares that: You think you know who you are. You have no idea. Nor perhaps do we. Later bad cop attends another crash. One cars fuel tank has burst and a rivulet of petrol is running towards an upturned car. Theres someone trapped inside. Bad cop dives into the car. The black woman he molested the day before is inside. He tries to get her out. The petrol is getting closer and a spark from the other car ignites it. Bad cops fellow officers pull him from the car. The woman will die. But he dives back in and pulls her out. Pervert turns saviour. Bad cop? Good cop? We didnt know what was in him. We dont know whats in ourselves.

Indeed, past actions are not always accurate indicators of future ones. By the end of the day his former partner, good cop, has saved the womans husband from being killed by two policemen. Wed expect that. But when a young black man that hes offered a lift to seems to be mocking him and goes to reach into his pocket, the good cop thinks its a gun. Bang. But it was a statuette of St Christopher the patron saint of travellers. The black traveller is dead. And white traveller who also has a statuette of St Christopher has killed him. Good cop, bad cop.

The good cop didnt have quite enough information. And that is one of the themes of the film people making decisions on the information they have and acting accordingly. Sandra Bullocks suburban housewife, recently carjacked at gunpoint by two black men, notices that the man changing her house locks is young, Hispanic and tattooed. She insists that her husband has the locks changed the following day. The Hispanic will, she is certain, hand over the keys to their house to his homeboy friends.

Shes wrong about the locksmith but is she wrong to think what shes thinking? Dont we all have to make judgements like that every day? To try always to be as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents to love but not to be naïve like Salvation Army Officers working with alcoholics and drug addicts understanding likely patterns of behaviour but somehow treating every person as an individual.

Crash, however, does not stop at asking how we use the information we have to make judgements about people, it asks how we make judgements about the meaning of events. Is there any? Or do we simply impose our prejudiced worldviews on events in the same way that we impose our prejudiced racial views on people?

So in Crash people do kind things for others and bad things happen. People do bad things and good things happen. Well intentioned actions and malicious actions have unintended consequences that can lead to good or bad consequences. So, for example, a racist gunseller lets an Iranian woman unwittingly buy blank cartridges for the gun her father has bought to protect his store. That night, the store is vandalised by people who think hes an Arab. Distraught and financially ruined, he seeks his revenge against the locksmith who he erroneously believes failed to secure his shop. He tracks him down, and pulls out his gun. The locksmiths five year old daughter runs between them. The Iranian fires. We think shes dead. But no one is killed. His gun is full of blanks. The locksmith intended it for harm, as Joseph son of Jacob put it to his treacherous brothers in Genesis 50. But was it the Lord who turned it to good? Or just chance?

The Iranian shopkeeper, presumably a Muslim, is in no doubt. God has sent an angel. We know he hasnt. We know that it wasnt the little girl but the blanks. But the shopkeeper is insistent. The films point is that people insist on seeing the world in their own way, that they either suppress the facts or simply dont know them all.

Certainly, there are reconciliations. The crashes change some people for the better and help others see their world or themselves more accurately. This is not however because there is some great benevolent deity. A black director, a Buddhist, may be saved by a white policeman outside a house with a huge nativity scene painted on the garage door, and a Chinese human trafficker run down by a car is dumped outside a hospital in front of another nativity scene but its got nothing to do with Christ. After all, the St Christopher fails to prevent the manslaughter of an enlightened, if criminal, young black. We are left with our yearning for meaning, or our insistence that there is meaning but there is none to be found beyond humankind. Our hope, according to Crash, lies in our capacity to love others, and in the capacity of some of us to change for the better.

Still, the film raises important questions. How do we as Christians interpret things that happen to us? Yes, we may well be able to present evidence to rebut any atheists assertions about a god-free universe, we may be able to defend the reliability of the biblical documents, make a compelling case for the resurrection, and we may know that life is not ultimately random, that bad things may be allowed by God but are not pre-intended and can work for the good of those who love him, but do we see him acting in our daily lives? And how do we know?

Two true stories:

Its March 2005. A Christian woman thinks that God is telling her to pray for the protection of her office. It seems like a strange imperative but she does so. On July 7th 2005, a bomb explodes 50 yards from her building. Glass flies through many of the the offices like shrapnel from a shell burst. Ordinarily, there would be people working in those offices. Extraordinarily, on that day at that time, no one is in their office. Luck? Coincidence? A miracle, she believes. So do I.

Its December 2005. A senior Christian businessman is struggling to discern his way forward in his career he loves the company hes in but finds the man he works for very difficult. Should he stay or should he go? Hes travelling and comes across a copy of the Daily Telegraph. Its not his usual paper but he picks it up anyway. Inside theres a Q and A with Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. One of the two questions Welch addresses is this:

What's better: to work for a bad boss at a good company, or a good boss at a weak company?

Luck? Coincidence? Divine provision, he believes.

Of course, the first instance is less easily dismissed than the second. But to the people involved God had provided. Sometimes we may never fully know but once Christians start praying before and after events then God may well give us eyes to see his interventions, and then the number of instances accumulate to the point where the odds of them being fulfilled become so high as to be implausible.

Many people think God is an idea. I think hes a person. Some people think God is dead. I know hes alive. Some people think God is a long way from here I know hes Emmanuel God with us. And Ive got the stories to prove it. So probably have have you. And the more we pray the more the odds mount up against those extraordinary events in our lives being mere coincidences. People in our culture are yearning for a living God who has not only spoken but acted. More than that they are yearning for a God who not only speaks but acts, who is present with us. Isnt that why Jesus was called Emmanuel God with us? Not because he came and went but because he came and went and came back and went and sent His Spirit to be with us. Crash doesnt know that but it gives us a chance to communicate it humbly. And in awe.

Mark Greene, London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC), www.licc.org.uk

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Govt, ODM said to be knowing much more on foreign duo

2006-03-17T09:37:00.000+03:00

A source tells me both the Government and the ODM know much more than they are telling us and that there could be other groups that are interested in the outcome of the debacle.

The matter touches on many raw nerves and has every potential to turn ugly on a national scale depending on how the concerned parties continue to play out their cards; what some often consider as "mass hysteria" is no idle ideal.

If you have never prayed for Kenya before, pray now, seriously!

My prayer is that God's will be done in our country, the best He knows how..... I also pray that Church leaders will emerge who will not speak for either side of the political divide but for God to both sides and the rest of the country; that they will know the times and the seasons and courageously stand up to be counted in what God would have the Church in Kenya do (I Chron. 12:32). There is always much to be said about the Church in Kenya.....

If I get anything worth writing, I'll have it on my blog the soonest I possibly can.

Dr. Owuor is back, says God "is very serious" about the Church in Kenya

2006-03-15T00:36:00.000+03:00

Following the tremors that hit the great Lakes region and parts of East Africa late last year (including kenya), I carried a piece on this weblog on December 6, 2005 asking that the man who had been reported in sections of the Kenyan media as having predicted such beforehand come out and speak on the developments. At the time, my plea got nothing from Dr. David Owuor - the man reported as having prophesied about the tremors and other major events around the world. There were, instead, some interesting responses from some of my readers (kindly refer to the comments' section of the post in question). At around 12:30 a.m today (Kenyan time), however, a reader calling himself Dr. Owuor responded to the said post. Said he: "Praise the LORD. Im Dr. David Owuor. The LORD has spoken with me about the Earthquakes and HE has commanded that we repent so that church can prepare for the Rapture. On the 30th Octobr 2005, I prophecied that this E.African Earthquake was going to come and a month later it appears after the initial earlier warning (sic)." He continued: "Surely The LORD is very serious and HE has sent me to prophecy events such as the Asian Tsunami a moth before it occurred, Pakistani Earthquake, Afghanistani Earthquake (24hr warning), and the current tonardos in Illinois. Let the Church repent and prepare for the LORD." And he also said: ".....You can all get the prophecy out of the Kapsokwany repentance meeting on 30th October 2005. The tapes are available, call 0721-370-150 or 0724-268-148." I'm not in a position to call the number from where I'm at the moment, but I'll greatly appreciate hearing from anyone of you who manages to get through with the number or even access the mentioned resource materials concerning the Kapsokwony meeting. This is in no way a commentary on the veracity or lack thereof on anything there is or might be concerning Dr. Owuor and what he is about; it is merely a note to the Christians among us who have previously been divided on this matter. Over to you ladies and gentlemen!

666: Is the "Mark of the Beast" finally here?

2006-03-13T01:06:00.000+03:00

By ANN WINBURN As a concerned Christian, you are hopefully aware of the "Mark" of the Beast in Rev. Chapter 13. If anyone takes this "Mark" according to Rev. Chapter 14, his or her soul will be lost forever. For this reason I thought you might be interested in this front-page article of the Seattle Times, March 1st, 2006. I'm not sure you will be able to retrieve that article as it is a secured website, so I have copied it below for you: Man grips future with microchip implants in hands

By Kristi Heim Seattle Times business reporter

Bellingham entrepreneur Amal Graafstra has given a new meaning to hands-on technology.

In each hand, between his thumb and index finger, is a microchip implant, which he can use to open doors to his apartment and car and sign on to his computer.

The one in his left hand was designed for tracking wildlife, among other things.

He ordered both chips for less than $5 each on the Internet.

"I saw pets getting these things for years, and then I heard about people getting the chip implant," he said. "I wanted to use that technology so I don't have to carry any keys."

Graafstra, 29, is one of a small but growing number of people experimenting with RFID chips in their bodies. He plans to talk about his project at 7 p.m. today at an event called Dorkbot at Seattle's Center on Contemporary Art. At the event, a local cosmetic doctor will implant the chip in a Canadian robotics enthusiast.

More information on

Dorkbot: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsea/

RFID, or radio frequency identification, transmits information wirelessly from a tiny chip or tag to a reader device. Its applications are broad, from tracking merchandise in warehouses and controlling access to buildings, to identifying pets if they're lost.

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first human implantable chip, made by VeriChip of Delray Beach, Fla. Since then, about 85 people in the United States have had the VeriChip implanted, primarily to give doctors speedy access to their medical records, said company spokesman John Procter.

Graafstra has engineered the chips in his hands to serve the same purpose as the code that opens his apartment door or the key fob that unlocks his silver 2004 Volkswagen Golf. He keeps no data on the chips, just a 10-character code.

He waves his hand within a few inches of a sensor on the windshield, and that performs the same function as pressing a button on his remote control, unlocking the car door.

The chip was implanted by Dr. Virginia Stevens of Woodinville, who will do the same procedure tonight.

"It's not that huge a deal for the body," Graafstra said. "It was really kind of a fun experiment.

"I got the implant in my hand and I was writing the software with the bandage on," he said. "Within a couple of hours, I had the front-door access working."

Stevens, a cosmetic doctor at Hypatia Clinic in Woodinville, has performed about eight RFID chip implants since Graafstra's first in March 2005.

"My first reaction was here we go toward the end of the world," she said. "All your whole life history on a little chip."

Medically, she called the implant process "extremely simple."

She numbed the area, made a small incision with a scalpel, inserted the 13-millimeter chip and sealed the opening with skin glue.

Last July, Graafstra had his second chip inserted "in two seconds" with a special needle by his family doctor. He hasn't started using that chip yet, but is trying to figure out how to implement features for it.

The technology raises eyebrows — and the ire of privacy advocates — for its social implications.

"We think it's a very bad idea," said Liz McIntyre, co-author of the book "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID."

Making chip implants seem like a cool experiment sends the wrong message to young people, she said.

"They're equating this with just another piercing," she said. "What they're doing is actually breaking down the mental barriers to the unique numbering of humans."

Because information on the tiny chips can be read surreptitiously from a distance, privacy watchdogs worry that the prevalence of RFID could allow secret monitoring and tracking by government or companies.

Graafstra acknowledges that any technology has potential for abuse. But many of the fears stem from misunderstanding, he contends.

"Basically people are learning about the technology, which could never be a bad thing," he said. "If it ever became oppressive, it's the people learning about it now who would be equipped to fight it."

He hopes his hands-on experiment can help dispel some myths. "Take charge of the technology," he says, "don't run from it."

One advantage to the do-it-yourself approach is that his system works only with his property, unlike corporate systems with many users linked to one database. With those systems, hackers could stage random attacks on anyone in the database.

Reading his chip would be like "finding a house key on the ground," Graafstra said. "It only works on my house, and you don't know where I live.

"The information can't be used in a way that would compromise my money or my medical data or anything like that," he said.

Graafstra has written a book, "RFID Toys," with step-by-step instructions for rigging doors and computers to respond to RFID tags. He's also converted his girlfriend. She has a chip implanted in her hand that lets her into his apartment and car.

Another convert is Phillip Beynon, a robotics enthusiast and college student from British Columbia who plans to have the chip implanted in his right hand tonight. He has projects planned, including using RFID to lock his computer, drawers and suitcase.

One challenge may be finding a willing doctor.

"A lot of doctors would have a moral problem with it," Stevens said. "If the person understands exactly what its potential capabilities are, and the way they use it is clearly defined, they are adults and can make their own decisions."

As for herself, Stevens said, "I would just scrounge around for my keys."

Khartoum grins, whistles in the cemetry

2006-03-12T10:12:00.000+03:00

So the AU has decided to give Khartoum more time to make peace by making war between now and April 30th; how diplomatic indeed! Then also that the lame-duck AU forces will hang in there for just a little longer to protect Bashir and his friends' scalps who would otherwise have progressively made it to The Hague had the UN forces stepped in at this point. My own country Kenya chose to stand by Khartoum in the interest of pursuing "African solutions for African problems." Then there are also some "national interests" sources say have continued to inform Nairobi's stance towards Khartoum; how to break that down, again in the national interest, is a "national security" affair. I stand with Washington and the NGO world on this one; what we have in Darfur and parts of Tchad is a systematic genocide and the rulling elite's fitting place is gaol. A dear friend of mine also passed on a few months ago in Southern Sudan, courtesy of the LRA and some other elements allied to Khartoum; all the more why I'm riled by the theatre of the absurd that the AU has become on this subject.

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The Liberia experience

2006-03-11T09:40:00.000+03:00

My friends in DC say recently-elected Liberian President Johnson Sirleaf has been invited to address the US Congress in the next few days. Out of love for Liberia and in memory of the great Liberians I schooled with at the university, I hereby re-publish a piece on the West African country that I published a few years ago at a newspaper I once edited. Kisimir, the writer, is a dear friend and one of the men and women who have had a lasting impact on my journey in African journalism. I'll be publishing another piece from him on the Rwandan genocide in the next few days. **********

By JOHN ole KISIMIR

It takes a peculiar state of mind before a man deliberately and cold-bloodedly shoots down another. It must either be the terror of the hunted or the unbalanced frenzy of the criminal lunatic. That is why Liberia, the beautiful but war torn West African country, will remain in my mind for a long time.

This strangely beautiful country has been limping for years, but plunged into the abyss last year when rebels took great chunks of territory, leaving President Charles Taylors government marooned in the capital city, Monrovia. In August, Taylor fled to Nigeria, ushering in a transitional government. By then, everything had gone ballistic. The level of violence was unimaginable. Thousands of women and children were dying either by the bullet or starvation.

Like vultures, aid agencies, as well as the United Nations, descended on Monrovia to help the vulnerable long after the country has collapsed. I left Somalia for Liberia in early September to lead World Vision Internationals communications team in Liberia. I found a dead city. Most good buildings and landmarks in the city have been shelled. Rebels and ragtag government militias have drawn lines of control, with snipers posted at several vantage points.

Only two hotels were functional, possibly saved by their proximity to the United States Embassy. The U.S. embassy is a fort, surrounded by razor wire, enough to shred a regiment. My colleagues and I slept on the floor and ate cold food in our temporary residence-office. We were much better off because over 200,000 displaced peopled were crowded into camps within the city, with limited access to water, food and dignified shelter. Every morning when we woke up, we prayed and planned on how best to help them. There was some level of security in most parts of the city, but our work does not confine us in the city. Thousands of displaced people were holed up in rebel held territories. They needed food, shelter and medicine.

My first assignment on arrival was to accompany a convoy of World Vision International relief experts into rebel controlled territory in the west of the country. It was a challenge, venturing into unknown territory. No aid workers had gone out of the city for months as the war escalated. We were all anxious. Will the rebels allow us to go through? How many people are still living in villages? What are they eating? What is the level of harassment, rape, intimidation and killings of civilians?

We left the city headed west to the areas controlled by the rebel faction, LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). We were tense and anxious as we went through checkpoints manned by West African Peacekeepers who saluted and wished us well. A few kilometers from the city, we met thousands of terrified, hungry and tired civilians were trekking towards the city. Most of them women, carrying children and bundles on their heads. We estimated the number at about 20,000. This was a sign that fighting is still going on in the interior. Many have walked for days to reach the only place which they think would be safe Monrovia.

There were roadblocks after every few kilometers, manned by excited and drugged child soldiers. More frightening encounters were still to come we approached the city of Tubmanburg. The child soldiers were becoming aggressive. They shot into the air as we approached and took long to let us go through the checkpoints. Some demanded food, water and money in that order. Like everybody else in this country, they were hungry. We drove off the road towards the villages to find out if any people still lived here. Some villages were empty, while in others people ran into the forest as we approached. It was raining and roads were almost impassable. It was frustrating.

We stopped in Wenal village in Montserado County, 37 km north of Monrovia. It was deserted but we saw smoke from one of the huts. As in other places, people had fled, they can no longer tell friend and enemy.

A shrub move at the periphery of the dense forest, then a face and several eyes. Frightened faces of people who had known terror for long. We waved and called out that we had come to help. A woman hesitantly advanced, searching for a hint of danger. She gathered courage and came slowly towards us.

Somebody whistled and people started coming out from the forest. They came out dancing in the rain, crying, Thank you God. Thank you Jesus.

They went round the convoy of our vehicles. They touched the vehicles and hugged each other. It was a heart breaking experience. They hugged their children and clapped with excitement, celebrating that hope at last is coming to a devastated people. They had not seen anyone else for months but the rebels fighting the government. Food is impossible to find, they have been surviving on bush yam.

We turned back to the main road, only to get into a checkpoint. The soldiers got excited and started shooting into the air. We stopped and they came around, asking questions. Most could not tell aid agencies from their enemy. Our flag on the vehicles meant nothing to them. There was a dead body lying at the checkpoint, a definite signal that they are trigger-happy and a warning to those who disobey them.

A child came around our vehicle, holding a grenade in his left hand and an AK automatic rifle dangling from his shoulder. He peeped through the window and asked for water. Another shot went into the air and the checkpoint was opened for us.

We drove to the city of Tubmanburg, the headquarters of the LURD rebels, to negotiate with rebel commanders modalities for distribution of food to the starving population in the villages. The city was a busy place, littered with the loot from Monrovia. Rebels had commandeered many four-wheel vehicles belonging to the government, the UN and aid agencies when they stormed Monrovia. The commanders were concerned because a hungry population is dangerous and they want the people on their side.

But the unfortunate thing was that most trucks used by the World Food Programme (WFP) to ferry food are in the hands rebels. We found many of them being cannibalized and repainted. We challenged on of the commanders. How do they expect food to come to their people when they are holding the trucks? He shook his head and argued that other factions including the government have also looted vehicles from aid agencies. We could not buy his point. He agreed in principle to release the trucks if WFP comes for them. That is easier said than done. Some trucks were released but many were non-functional.

For the days that followed, we braved the tough weather and insurmountable workloads. We distributed food to thousands of people. Thousands more flocked to medical clinics set up by World Vision in different camps. But the fighting in the interior of the country continued to hurt civilians, forcing them to flee in all directions.

Aid agencies and foreign governments pressured the UN Security Council to send peacekeepers to the country to protect civilians and enforce a ceasefire signed by warring parties. The situation was very fluid with militiamen driving up and down on looted vehicles, sometimes shooting and robbing civilians.

With time, life began to improve. Food was reaching more displaced people but the security situation made the population very restless. The good news finally came that the UN Security Council had approved sending 11,500 peacekeepers to Liberia, making it the largest peace keeping mission in the world. The 3,500 West African troops who were already on the ground would join the UN troops making the number 15,000. Excitement hit the streets of Liberian cities and displacement camps. People celebrated and waited eagerly.

On October 1, the West African peacekeepers switched to blue UN helmets in an elaborate ceremony, thus becoming the first UN troops in the country. Representatives of the warring factions and government were to attend the ceremony. It was a bright day. Hope was in the air.

Officially, it was World Visions prayer day. Most of us except those doing food distribution and critical medical staff converged to pray. I was restless because I knew a lot of things were going to happen. There was a possibility of the country returning to peace or continue to indulge in turmoil.

As the leading journalist for the World Visions rapid response team in Liberia, I did not want to just sit, but to keep my eyes open. The whole partnership of over 100 countries was keenly following happenings in Liberia. I had helped create that appetite by filing interesting situation reports. I had spent late hours every day, writing news, features, editing digital pictures and doing media interviews on the state of the country and our programs.

I left the prayer room and drove to town. On reaching the great bridge that separated LURD and government territory, I met a stampede. People were running towards the city center. Vehicles were hooting, and then crack of automatic gunfire cracked and filled the air.

A taxi braked just before us, the occupants shouting that the rebels were coming, and they would take our vehicle. I picked my camera gear, alighted and told the driver to return to base.

Whats happening? No one knows. In Liberia, when you hear gunfire, you run away as far as possible. Whoever is shooting or being shot at is not your concern. Run, run. Dont go there. They are coming!, the crowds keep shouting.

A UN armoured tank approached, heading to the front line, a TV van in close pursuit. I ran to the van, raising my cameras. It stopped and I jumped in. Whats the news?

Gunmen had shot at LURD rebel leader Sekou Conneh, thus triggering an exchange of fire between rebels and government troops. Mr. Conneh was on his way to see interim President Moses Blah. Several agencies lost vehicles to looters in the confusion that ensued. Seven people were killed.

I called my colleagues who were distributing food in the area where the fighting started. The team leader, Tamba Macaulay, advised me not to go towards their direction. Suddenly the UN tank stopped and turned to block the road. Several vehicles carrying rebel soldiers approached. Two other UN tanks arrived with soldiers arms at the ready, and ordered the rebels to stop. The rebels were headed to the city center, a situation that could lead to a full-scale war.

I called Tamba again. His phone was off. I called the office. Alex Slewion, our Security Officer ordered me back to base. Rebels have taken 25 of our staff hostage. The staff, all from Commodities Department had gotten caught up on their return to the city from a food distribution exercise at a displaced peoples camp about 23 km from Monrovia.

The information hit us badly. We assembled and prayed for their safety and kept calling the UN peacekeepers for any information. By 8.00 pm we were informed that peacekeepers had traced our vehicles and rescued all our staff. But there is no safe passage to the city any more. Gunfire is cracking everywhere. Rebels and government troops are looting everything and anything that came their way. My colleagues spent a night at a peacekeepers checkpoint and were driven back to the office in the morning. By evening UN troops had contained the skirmishes. Tension was very high in the city. Civilians continued to be harassed by gunmen in the northern counties of Lofa, Nimba and Bong.

As the situation stabilized in Monrovia, civilians reacted with joy. They danced in the streets and in overcrowded camps and cheered as UN troops passed by their homes. They clung on to hope for a better future.

I woke up to the day of my departure. Just as the day I arrived, it was oppressively hot, with the threat of a rainstorm looming up out of the east. The first lightning bolt struck with a crackling electric explosion that seemed to singe the air about me. The thunderbolt seemed to shake the sky, and rock the earths very foundations. The rain came in buckets. It drummed, roared and deafened. I left another devastated African country but still shared Murie Lesters view that: "War is as outmoded as cannibalism, chattel slavery, blood-feuds, and dueling, an insult to God and humanity... a daily crucifixion of Christ.

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Extra Weekly Citizen article

2006-03-09T17:29:00.000+03:00

It began with Kenyan Pundit who got some of the controversial articles from the Weekly Citizen before others in the Kenyan blogsphere did...today someone sent the following extra piece to my blog.

Wambui Edges out Lucy out of State House: Our Reporter(Weekly Citizen, February 20th- 26th, 2006) The saying that when two bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers, graphically describes events unfolding at State House where President Kibaki has not only to contend with mega scams threatening his regime but also the unity of his immediate family. Even as the purge on corruption continues, a political tit for tat scheme has been unleashed as the Muthaiga camp politicians enjoying the backing of the Othaya activist Mary Wambui square it out with the Hurlingham Group with the support of First Lady Lucy Kibaki majority of whom have now been reduced to political spectators. Sources privy to the goings-on at State House divulged that the high-flying Wambui team comprising mainly of Kibaki’s old golfing buddies and bosom friends, are the ones now calling the shots in the corridors of power as the Hurlingham team cries foul. What is causing the Hurlingham group sleepless nights is the treatment Wambui has been accorded allegedly by the state and the source of her wealth which she uses to bankroll the group and other social activities. Wambui, the woman President Kibaki once categorically denied being a member of his family is allegedly enjoying state security and overwhelming press coverage by the state-run Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). Early in the month, she was spotting using a Kenya Wildlife Service helicopter with a team of security men acting as body guards. To prove how powerful On other occasions it has been alleged that she uses government GK vehicles in her countrywide tours and one wonders who foots the bill. Back to State House, all is not well for the Hurlingham-based Lucy’s team, comprising of politicians mainly from the known to be Kibaki’s key advisors majority of whom have been sent packing after being adversely mentioned in the scam. The group is nicknamed Hurlingham because they used to hold secret meetings at a Hurlingham hotel. In Lucy’s camp is former Finance Minister David Mwiraria, former Transport Minister Dr. Chris Murungaru, former Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, former Education Minister George Saitoti and sacked Kibaki’s Personal Assistant Alfred Getonga. Wambui’s team includes Defence Minister Njenga Karume, Internal Security Minister John Michuki, former PS John Githongo, State House based Stanley Murage and former State House comptroller Matere Kereri. Others are parastatal heads Eddy Njoroge of Ken Gen, George Muhoho of Kenya Airports Authority, University of Nairobi Chancellor Dr. Joe Wanjui and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture Vice-Chancellor Nick Wanjohi. To prove that the Muthaiga team is increasingly becoming powerful sources say, the appointment of former Lands Minister Amos Kimunya to replace Mwiraria at the Treasury was a result of lobbying by Wambui. Well-placed sources say, after the unceremonial departure of Getonga from State House, it is Murage who is now calling the shots thereby giving his Muthaiga club members an upper hand in meeting the president. Last week, the Hurlingham team comprising of Kiraitu Murungi and Getonga in a rare show of solidarity accompanied Chris Murungaru to the Anti-Corruption Court to answer charges relating to wealth declaration claims. The bone of contention in the whole fighting at State House is the Githongo dossier and the Hurlingham team is blaming the Muthaiga team for having recommended the appointment of Githongo ostensibly to “finish” them. Githongo’s appointment had the blessings of University of Nairobi chancellor Dr. Joe Wanjui and a number of the Muthaiga club members. When word leaked out that Githongo was secretly closing in on the Hurlingham group, they hurriedly organized his operation base base from State House to Harambee House but Karume intervened and their move was thwarted. The game plan was that he was to be denied access to the President as Getonga takes control. Murage is also said to have played a pivotal role and brokered the appointment of Martha Karua to replace Kiraitu Murungi as Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister. Both Murage and Karua are from Kirinyaga District. Other sources say, the Muthaiga team has now secretly introduced the former Kenya Power and Lighting Company MD Samwel Gichuru to State House and he has of late become a regular visitor. Lucy who has of late decided to take a low profile since the Anglo-Leasing ghost disappeared with her supporters has finally fell in the trap laid by her main rival Wambui. Kibaki on the other hand has let nature take its own course. But even as Kibaki watches from the touch line as the Githongo ghost sweeps the Hurlingham team, it is unlikely the can dump his Muthaiga bosom friends just in case they are named in any of the scams. Those who understand Kibaki’s brand of politics say his relationship with his Muthaiga old friends date back to the formation of the Democratic Party (DP). A story is told on how close Kibaki was to these people that a special table was reserved for them at the Golf Club known as the “Chairman’s corner.” This was reserved for Kibaki, Muhoho and Karume. As the Anglo-Leasing scam investigations continue, the man said to be enjoying the goings-on is the Defence Minister Njenga Karume, Kibaki’s trusted lieutenant. Karume was once in Lucy’s camp during their heyday on DP where he was the patron and party financier but temporarily parted ways in 2002 when Karume dumped the DP chairman and said that “Kbaki was a thankless man”. It was the entry of Karume to the cabinet that marked the end of the Hurlingham group and the emergence of the Muthaiga group in State House. As the struggle over control of State House affairs continues, lobbying is in top gear to replace the sacked ministers who are also senior members of the Hurlingham group. Other reports say, the sacked ministers several attempts to seek audience with Kibaki failed as their hotlines at their residential homes had been disconnected. State House comptroller has been playing cat and mouse games with them. He has also been allegedly recruited on the Muthaiga camp team. Sources say, a major reshuffle is looming and a bruising battle awaits those calling the shots within the corridors of power.

Uhuru Park memo

2006-03-07T15:09:00.000+03:00

It was refreshing to be in Nairobi and attending a public rally, something I had not done since I was here to vote in the referendum campaigns. Nairobi is a busy capital; I needed no further testimony of that as I boarded a Matatu to the CBD. Continuing my feel of the average mwananchi, I alighted at the Uhuru Highway-Haile Selassie junction to walk the rest of the way. A few people loittered around the City Council pond at Uhuru Park, but most people sat peacefully near the dais; waiting for the politicians to arrive. That was 9:47 a.m; I realized I had been a little too early. But I saw some of my friends in the press corps, so I moved towards them to play some catch-up. It's long since I penned down a story for anyone, so it was nice to be "refreshed" on what is cutting in some of the Kenyan media houses. Still, no politician had arrived, but the crowd was swelling. I saw CNN's Jeff Koinange (in a red top) take a lengthy call on his phone while strolling towards one of the "valleys" at the park, just at the same time as Raila and company walked up the path that links the dais and the City Council pond. A section of the crowd that had already began pressing the police near All Saints retreated when they heard Raila had arrived; the crowd rushed back to the dais.

Raila is not loved and hated for nothing; the man could barely move. Besides him were Linah Jebii Kilimo, Ochillo Ayacko, Anyang' Nyong'o, Nick Salat, William Ruto, Kalonzo Musyoka and others but everyone in the crowd wanted to touch him - Raila. Security guards cleared the way for members of the press corp to take shots of Raila and his group, but that was still a struggle to say the least. The crowd stood still, shouting in a frenzy that "Michuki must go" as the politicians waited for the public address system to be brought. In a short while, a while Land Rover pulled by; the politicians went atop it as the crowds and journalists jostled to get a better view of the action. It was Raila outlining the streets and avenues the procession would take; no violence or looting, he stressed. PPO Mwangi King'ori came by and passed on some message to the politicians above the din of some in the crowd that were asking if he was a snake or not. He didn't seem to be armed and neither was he harmed; though his guards whisked him away a little too fast.

I couldn't secure an interview with anyone of the politicians as they led the crowd along Kenyatta Avenue, pushing for space so that they themselves could breath. When we got near Nyayp House, someone in the press corp shouted there could be some news behind us and as sure as that could be, we saw Linah struggling to catch up with the rest of the politicians; it wasn't clear what had held her back, but the procession now moved on. At Teleposta, the crowd stopped again, as some requested passengers to join them in the protests; some did, others didn't. Negotiating one's way to Bunge then Harambee House was proving difficult as more folks joined the procession; I had to leave my media colleagues, make my way via Holy family Basillica and jump over its fence with other wananchi so as to catch up with the crowd on its way past Bunge. Faithfuls and a few nuns at the Basillica gate watched us in amazement, as the guards shut the gates behind us to block others who had been keen to follow us. I got to Harambee just in good time; the politicians had began speaking. Activities around town had come to a standstill as civil servants and pedestrians strove to keep up with the action; the former watched through windows as others stood at their verandas. Policemen lining the procession paths and defending government buildings and installations were most peaceful; I shook the hand of one who transferred his rungu and ngao to his left hand to greet me "properly." Raila, Ruto, Linah and Kalonzo (I don't recall anyone else speaking at this point) called for Michuki to resign as the crowd roared along. The journey along Harambee Avenue on our way back to Uhuru Park was punctuated with catcalls near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs....the victim this time round was....you guessed it, Tuju. "Alipata 850 Ramba mwaka jana, tutampa sufuri akijaribu next year," a youngman shouted besides me. Others took up the call. The journey to Uhuru Park was uneventful, save for near the Intercon when some fellow shouted obscenities at Raila who had already passed the place. Well, well...thank the crowds again....they nearly stormed the place to lynch the fellow who had by then taken refuge there....but calmly walked on when some ODM activists urged them to achane naye. I asked NTV's Robert Nangila if he could let me give him a soundbyte for the incident (:-) but akasema cameraman wake alikuwa ashaenda na wanasiasa. Uhuru Park was, for kitu 15 minutes, a mess as everyone tried to be near the press corps (you know why). Eventually Reuben Ndolo got the increasingly large crowd (bigger than the one that had began the maandamano a few minutes before) to relax and listen to the politicians. - There was this mhindi....sijui jina lake...but he spoke well...nasikia yeye ndiye dawa ya Mwenje huko Embakasi 2007. - Ntimama was witty...he struck a chord with the crowd when he said "Kibaki toka" instead of "Kibaki tosha." But that Nkaisserry was allowed to speak for much longer perhaps indicates a shift in Maasai politics. The last time I went to Narok, I learnt that Ntimama does not intend to run next year. So maybe - just maybe - Nkaissery might take that mantle. A youngman I helped campaign for in Kajiado South might not make it back if he isn't too careful with his constituents....because they are no longer with the people he is supporting in govt....Enough of the Maasai politics. - Gumo worked the crowd....... - Nyong'o steered clear of Anglo Leasing..... - Ayacko blasted Ndingi, Mutava and Nzimbi for boot-licking the powers-that-be. - Magara was the youth's hero....and he worked them too....Nyachae definitely has some homework to do in Gusiiland. There were others...but I must end now.... - Linah acted the mother...and she got away with it..the crowds adored her; "Mama Chungwa" - they shouted. - Ruto was in his element; no one could have spoken for the media any better than he did, not even the Standard Group's lawyer (Otiendo Ommollo) and the embattled KUJ Chairman Tervil Okoko could beat him at it. Ruto was a darling of the crowd. Same thing with George Khaniri. Mudavadi also did well with the speechwork, bemoaning the "unknown" chains of command in the country's security apparatus. - Kalonzo proclaimed something he said would, from now onwards, be known as Press Freedom Day. But he appeard apprehensive and somehow brow-beaten as he ploughed through his remarks. As he spoke, the young men and women around me were asking him to state whether or not he had met the President in secret. I don't know, but the mixed signals in the crowd appeard to be taking some confidence away from him. He led the crowd in a half-hearted backing of Ali in his "wars" with Michuki and his boys in the police force, apart from "forgiving" him for the referendum Kisumu and Likoni deaths. I don't know again, but I think that might haunt him some day. - Raila sounded like Cozy Aquino and the Filipino crowds in 1986...his remarks were classic anti-govt rhetoric. He repeated his remarks about the "foreign" merceneries that reportedly led the raids on the Standard Group. He also said he won't obey the police's summons for him to write a statement with them over that. By that time Jeff Koinange had moved closer to the politicians. I think he was among those the press corps who asked that both Kalonzo and Raila repeat their remarks in English for a wider audience.

I left the place certain that way beyond the Standard Group and, by extension, the rest of the media, the day's biggest winner had been the ODM. Public opinion is with the ODM; Michuki gave them that gift at a crucial time. It will be interesting to see how Kibaki fights to re-claim his place in the hearts and minds of Kenyans.

I had better leave now: I'll let the pro and anti-govt editors do their spinning in their evening broadcasts and kesho's dailies:-) It was good to be here at this time, witnessing these small bits of history unfolding. Nitarudi kupiga kura yangu baadaye. And I'll cover any protest in future if I can, be it pro or anti-govt.

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Michuki, Kagwe & Koigi can't eat their cake and still have it!

2006-03-06T09:40:00.000+03:00

By O. OLIVER

I listened to Crossfire today and just couldn't believe Koigi was sweating defending the gov'ts action on Thursday!!

Koigi was again on KBC on Saturday saying that it is media that has gagged gov't just two days after denying that he knew nothing!! Imagine, how many lies politicians tell us everyday, but because Kenyans are more mature than the gov't we know the law demands that we wait untill the polls; thats when we will punish them by voting them out.

Halafu we go after them using the law so that they pay for the pain they have been causing some of us in the media because right now they control everything from security to justice, let alone the economy.

Our stupid gov't has now invented a new style...next time u suspect your MP is lying, just take the law into your hands and break into his premises, hooded, steal his phone and call his children NIGGAZ, threaten them that you will waste them and eventually burn the evidence that shows they were lying......!!!!!!!!!!!

This is exactly what our leaders are demonstrating, that they cannot stick to the internationallly acceptable human rights standards, and other universally acceptable theories of press freedom.

I here wish to share a few media theories that have been flawed:

1. Marketplace of free information and ideas: Teaches that the audience is intelligent enough to choose from a pool of information what is relevenat and usefull for them. WHY DOES MICHUKI THINK KENYANS DO NOT KNOW WHAT CAN DIVIDE THEM ON TRIBAL LINES? AND WHAT WAS KTN TO SAY THAT IS SO TRIBAL THAT OUR POLITICIANS HAVE NEVER SAID BEFORE? Kenyans should be told, the truth, if this action is to be justified.

2. Communication for development: Teaches that media and gov't are partners in development. The Kenyan media, as MUTAHI KAGWE claims, has taken role of opposition and playing petty politics. Perhaps it is high time such a drastic measure was taken so as to restore order to what was the "rule of the jungle". The society has given the media powers to find information and to audit the leaders on its behalf. This power calls for responsibility on the part of media practitioners to report in manner that is "objective, balanced and factual". Remember the raison detre of journalism is "the truth" without which it is useless. IF MICHUKI seriosly believes that the commando style is the way forward, WHEN IS HE PLANNING TO ATTACK CITIZEN AND KBC BOTH OF WHICH ARE ALWAYS LYING ON BEHALF OF THE GOV'T? The writer is a freelance TV & Radio journalist based in both Mombasa and Nairobi.

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I couldn't keep this to myself...

2006-03-04T11:26:00.000+03:00

Someone has sent me an e-mail concerning the current affairs in our country, which I now take the liberty to share with you and others: ******

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning.

"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you...., remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

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Something is rotten in Nairobi @ this hour!

2006-03-03T23:12:00.000+03:00

I find it inconceivable and foolhardy that:

1. The President hasn't still found it fit to comment on something supposedly touching on our national, and by extension, his own security.

2. That Hon. Michuki expects to win back public opinion with his belated attempts to sell the new angle to this incident. The Tuesday protests, if allowed to proceed, could just be the turning point in this saga (unless something gives between now and then. I certainly expect some clergymen to counsel the nation to be "patient" this Sunday).

God have mercy on us all!

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The grapevine on the Kalonzo & Kibaki story

2006-03-02T11:19:00.000+03:00

The grapevine has it that the 2 have met more than once! The Standard Group's crime, sources suggest, was in confusing the dates. Let's wait and see how things turn out, though, as some "clean" politicians sanitize their way out of this.

A healthy dose of skepticism on the part of wananchi will be needed to sift through the unfathomable amount of spin around this issue, particularly from our politicians.

At least I know who I'm voting for next time I'm at the ballot box.

And it is not the person you are thinking about! :-)

At least siyo wewe! :-)

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Mene, mene, tekel peres for the Church in Kenya

2006-02-26T15:01:00.000+03:00

The Christian consensus in Kenya - be it in the NCCK or the Kenya Church - is in a serious intergrity and credibility crisis and, I'm afraid, few beyond those who gravitate around them are listening to them during these difficult hours for our country.

I have my ears on the ground concerning both sides; I'll be the last person to celebrate when they advise the President / his government on anything.

Only A FEW of them can advise the President on GRAFT / TRIBALISM without batting an eye-lid, and he knows it!

While crucial in the corruption, governance and review agenda / debate of our country; the Christian consensus in our country - at least in so far as it can be considered as such through its current crop of leadership - is a serious matter for prayer on its own.

When some known clergymen can consider snuffing life out of their fellow clergymen or ordinary believers for their perceived loyalty or opposition to the government of the day, then we have a serious problem indeed.

The pride of life and other trappings of this life has the focus of several of the men and women of the cloth on anything but Christ and the good of this country at heart in so far as the current corruption and governance debate is concerned.

Yet I believe God still has a faithful remnant scattered around our country and outside it who labour in prayer, coupled with faithful and obedient living each day, often at great personal cost.

We would be short-sighted to not see the quiet, sometimes painful revival in the Body of Christ in Kenya; God is sifting His people for new challenges in our generation, with emerging, young, Godly leaders within it and in various spheres of public life.

As an ordinary mwananchi and as a believer with a fairly good grasp of the Christian landscape in Kenya, I'll say we are not out of the woods just yet!

God, in His loving kindness, will preserve and sustain Kenya not because of those who are doing some un-printable things in His name and convening seminars / calling press conferences to advise the country on the way forward, but inspite of them.

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Interview: Uganda latest...on a see-saw....un-edited....

2006-02-24T21:43:00.000+03:00

Kenyananalyst: Who is losing?
NMA (not real name): both
NMA: its 50 /50
Kenyananalyst: Who is likely to lose?
NMA: besigye
Kenyananalyst: ?
Kenyananalyst: How?
NMA: coz museveni will rig
NMA: definatly
Kenyananalyst: Hasn't he already, the say?
NMA: they say he has
NMA: but tonight will tel it all
Kenyananalyst: Phew!
NMA: So u r a Besigye guy?
NMA: phew!
NMA: there might be chaos
NMA: i would support besigye because of africa
NMA: an ddemocracy and how
NMA: dictators should leave
Kenyananalyst: Interesting.
NMA: yeah
Kenyananalyst: I'm getting conflicting reports from BBC, Monitor online, New Vision Online, etc. I don't know who 2 trust execept for pple like u wu r already there.
Kenyananalyst: At least other frnds I kno there have echoed your sentiments.
NMA: but we pray that our Father above will protect us.
Kenyananalyst: So wat is it abt the current political heat that strikes you big time?
NMA: the fact that justice doesnt happen
NMA: besigye has majority
NMA: but he just wont win
NMA: i do pitty al the work
NMA: put into this gtreat venture of freeing uganda
NMA: but i guess the opotion will have to strengthen its forces
NMA: fo rnext elections
NMA: secondly
NMA: with the comin opf museveni
NMA: i thnk donors and worldbank an dkind will ration thier aid to ug
NMA: just like when moi came beack
NMA: back
NMA: so it will spoil for them
Kenyananalyst: Do you think the popultion is ready to stand with or against M7 if he is declared the winner?

NMA: he has the army
NMA: the army is museveni
NMA: remember he alitoa
NMA: obote
NMA: he has loyal army so what the population feels doesnt matter
Kenyananalyst: You ain't reading the same script as other pessimists, are you?
NMA: why?
Kenyananalyst: Those who believe things can now only go downhill in Ug, whoever wins.
NMA: not quiet
NMA: museveni
NMA: and his army
NMA: noi dont think so
NMA: he will take cahrge and there wil be peace by force
Kenyananalyst: How has the country's Christian leadership conducted itself prior to and during the polling? How significant is their voice in this matter?
NMA: christianity
NMA: chrisianity in Uganda
NMA: isnt what can matter
NMA: i tend to think in uganda
NMA: things happen in extreme.
NMA: trust me i am yet to find a sound church.
NMA: its mostly phanatical
NMA: hence
NMA: reson if hard
Kenyananalyst: Fanatical - jst wat do u mean by that?
NMA: its extreme kind of a thing
NMA: such as no putting trousers to church
NMA: and it cna be hypocritical
NMA: an dso money minded like teh nigeria churches
Kenyananalyst: Is that your way of saying "Pentecostal?" I'm not one, bt I'm a believer, so u can lay it all down here :-)
NMA: penteconstal is a moderated trype of christiianity
Kenyananalyst: Moderated - ?
NMA: henc enot what is here
NMA: that aside
NMA: the church has been praying
NMA: at least the fellowship I'm in.
NMA: moderated
NMA: in that
NMA: it steh grace of Gdo that rules
NMA: not the law or what religion expecsts
Kenyananalyst: Amen. Howz the civil society handling these developments?
NMA: its confused
NMA: the other day
NMA: the artoney general was taking the governemnt to court
NMA: talk of confusion within a system
NMA: isnt he the governmnet
NMA: just hwo can the governemtn take the govenrmten
NMA: to a court ran by the government
Kenyananalyst: Yeah, that's crazy (although one wishes that would happen in Kenya)........I meant the NGOs...hw r they handling themselves now?
NMA: ooohh that
NMA: dont know muhc
NMA: And howz the average mwananchi taking it?
NMA: now
NMA: thats teh other issue
NMA: Ugandans are generally passive
NMA: some just feel its doesnt matter
NMA: or they have given up
NMA: while soem few strongl beleive
NMA: in either museveni or besigye
NMA: of course depending on who they supprt
NMA: trust me they are damn passionate about their leaders
Kenyananalyst: Are u saying Kenyans aren't?
NMA: kenyanas are resonble
NMA: and politicaly mature
NMA: in that
NMA: they keep check and are upto date
NMA: further more
NMA: the media in kenya have politicals in one of its main agenda
NMA: unlike uganda
NMA: you are
NMA: aware that
NMA: romance, love, relationship takes up more than three quaters of
NMA: ugandas media
NMA: to an exent ponographic newspapres are sold on the streets
NMA: along side well credible papers such as Daily nation
Kenyananalyst: Red Pepper....& Co...
NMA: and etc, so many of them
Kenyananalyst: Your vibe on Ug's obsession with relationships is strikingly accurate frm my readings, bt don't u think it's overly critical coming from a woman like u?
NMA: Wmen r supposed to feel good abt such trash, right?
NMA: no its not
NMA: its a common feeling held by many
NMA: even acadenicainans read such papers in the open
NMA: the registra the proffesors
NMA: etc
NMA: just how do brains
NMA: of the country fall into suhc trap
NMA: i am a woman but i beielve
NMA: such content is scandalous
Kenyananalyst: Tell that to your other sisters around the world
NMA: hahhah
NMA: why the many questions?
NMA: I'm a scribe, remember? I wasn't given the powers to read and practice for nothing "-)
NMA: hahaha
NMA: By the way, do you mind if I share this conversation with other folks who are interested in election developments there and who are also praying abt it?
NMA: no problem
NMA: conditon that you keep me anonymous
NMA: museveni i sno joker he kills
NMA: so i dont want to be a victim
NMA: cought up in thier p[olitics
Kenyananalyst: cool
NMA: by tonight we will know who has won anyways

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Please pray with us in Uganda

2006-02-24T18:34:00.000+03:00

By M. MUGISHA Today is a special day for Uganda: lines are organized, papers are checked, thumbs are inked, and ballots are counted. We are electing a President for the next 5 years. This is a crititcal time for the future of Uganda. There has previously been some violence during campaiging and people fear the worst afterward. The Christian community here is asking the world to stand with us in prayer for peace and God's divine appointment. Please join Uganda in prayer: Father you are with us in Uganda Your name must be glorified May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done as we elect our Leader. Provide everything that we need for today that we will depend completely on You. Forgive our corruption as we forgive our opponents Lead us not into armed conflict but deliver us into peace For you hold all the kingdoms, glory and power forever and ever. Amen Thank you for your prayers for us. We so desperately love Uganda and want to see Christ continue to be glorified here in individuals lives. We are ready for whatever His will is for us.

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The Mary Wambui question: Aaah Mutua....

2006-02-20T17:29:00.000+03:00

Aaah Mutua, within hours of my liking your press release on graft you've taken away my cheerleading :-) with your latest on Wambui.

The moment Kibaki turned his family woes into a national issue he invited journalists to not only write about his personal life but also speculate about it in the days that have followed.

Kibaki's press release of denial was nothing but a PR fiasco.

The same would go for Lucy's and Wambui's public shadow-boxing with each other ever since.

I doubt the media will cease speculating on the First Family's affairs now that you have "asked" them to.

The same applies to the terminologies that you say have been coined to describe the persons and groups of persons that have been considered as to be the prime political brokers in the Kibaki administration.

You've called it all lies; I would have let it go if it was someone else saying it.

But since you are speaking for the Government, and since you are convinced you have the might of the truth on your side on this one, why not sue everyone who has been maligning the First Family and its friends?

I was just wondering :-)

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Mr. Mutua, this is the best press release I have seen from you in ages :-) !

2006-02-20T13:43:00.000+03:00

Wananchi have been asking the Government to act on allegations of corruption. Now the Government has embarked on a legal and transparent process to bring to book all those that investigations point at.

As a result, some people have started saying that the Government is conducting witch-hunting and bias in its fight.

Others have started telling concocted stories that are inaccurate. Some are asking that we only take action on Anglo Leasing. Some of these people know they are implicated in other corrupt activities and are trying to pre-empt action that will be taken against them.

The Government would like to make it clear that:

It will continue to investigate and make public the results of its investigations into corruption.
No one will be discriminated against because it does not matter as to when you engaged in corruption, you committed an offense against the people of Kenya. It does not matter what your tribe is, what your profession is, what your political standing is. If you have stolen, prepare for jail.
Some of the people making the loudest noise on witch-hunting have skeletons in their cabinets and these will be revealed as investigations intensify a thief is a thief, whether driving an expensive car, living in a grand home or in a slum.
Kenyans have asked the Government to fight corruption. Do the people of Kenya want us to fight corruption or not? If they want us to, then they should not pay attention to people who are getting scared that they will be caught and who are trying to politicize and deflect the fight.
(THIS WAS EMPTY AT THE TIME I GOT THE RELEASE)
It does not matter when you stole, in Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing, in land grabbing or other recent and specific corrupt activities and shoddy deals in Government Ministries

The signs of corruption are all around us. For example, we have roads that are built, and in a short time, theyre full of potholes. Those involved in such shoddy deals will have to pay for it. The people of Kenya want the truth, justice and their money back. This, the Government will get for them.

Dr. Alfred N. Mutua
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY &
GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON

February 19, 2006

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The Anglo Leasing debate: The way I see it

2006-02-20T12:30:00.000+03:00

The way I see it, the current cry in the country isn't necessarily for Mr. Jones or Napoleon & Co. (including other political pigs - on both sides of our political divide - who have, conveniently, excused the ills and excesses of the "revolution") to leave the farm but for there to be a re-birth of the nation, probably with an entirely new leadership.

Those among us seeing the on-going national travails / birth-pangs as a war on Kibaki or the Kikuyu community have missed the point entirely, for neither KANU nor LDP (for whom it's supposed some of us often speak) stand any better chance in the ring this time round.

And by this I don't mean to speak for any "Third Force" - all I'm saying is that "mjinga" (Wanjiku) ameerevuka, hivi "mwerevu" (the political elite and its hangers-on on both sides of the divide) yu mashakani.

An understanding of the multi-faceted nature of the current corruption debate is a pre-condition for the formulation of an effective idea on the way forward.

Such a formulation would place corruption in a historical and contemporary context, with a particular appreciation of the fact that the citizenry has CHANGED, we are not the same voters that would painstakingly vumilia in the past!

It's worth noting that the "fundamentalism" we are witnessing in the defenses by both the government and the opposition of their positions in the current debate has acquired a more pronounced political edge as their national fortunes decline dramatically in the face of an increasingly aware and skeptic public.

This brand of political manouvering has been manifest in the words and deeds of our state and non-state actors over the past few days and, in my view, sporadic shadow-boxing by some folks in some fora.

The West might not be the paragon of private and public morality in several respects, but it stands as an illustration of the reality that Wanjiku's so-called activism in the war against graft and other government excesses can be a constructive regime-changing / stabilizing force.

True, the West is not best but much of the West has found a balance between personal interests (on the part of their countries' leaderships, as some would have us see in the Kenyan context) and genuine public sensibilities.

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Kukukukuku

2006-02-20T12:23:00.000+03:00

By EDWIN GICHANGI (as an e-mail forward to this site)

One day there was a guy who was driving to a nearby town.

He was in a hurry, so he took a back road to get there faster, when all of a sudden his car broke down.

A nearby farmer saw him stranded so he invited him to stay the night.

He said, "The only bed I have that you can sleep in is with my daughter, but if I catch you fooling around with her I'll shoot you".

"To make sure that you don't I'm going to put some eggs between both of you and if they are broken in the morning then you are going to die".
So the guy agreed.

In the middle of the night the girl wanted to get it on so they did.

In the middle of the skir mish they broke all of
the eggs.

The guy didn't want to get shot so he cleaned up the mess and glued the egg shells back together.
In the morning the farmer came into his daughter's room and found that all of the eggs were still intact.

The farmer was so happy that he invited the guy to have breakfast with him.

So he gathered up all of the eggs and took them to the kitchen. He cracked the first one open and nothing was inside it.

He cracked the second one and still nothing and so on.
When he found out that all of them had nothing in them he grabbed his shotgun and ran outside.

He opened the chicken shed door and yelled out "ALLRIGHT, WHICH ONE OF YOU ROOSTERS HAS BEEN USING CONDOMS?!?"

*Editor's note: Edwin, in my college days, when we would sometimes suffer from water-shortages, some wags would put up jokes on our newsroom computer that the men among us should go share bathrooms with our neighbours' daughters. I didn't. I hope and pray you don't either, wherever you are! Don't for your own sake and that of the God who made you!

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Of Kalonzo and Kiraitu: Something to declare

2006-02-17T10:50:00.000+03:00

1. Kalonzo - Our "experts" told us at the time that the reason Kibs made it to be the sole opposition candidate was because he appeard to be a moderate and, to be a compromise candidate, had made a paltry few enemies on the local political scene throughout his career. A Mr. Nice Guy, if you know what I mean. Kalonzo loves to portray himself as such. There's an urgent need to not let him or anyone else get the big prize so easily this time round. He, like everyone of them, is a carcass fit for the hounds on this and other fora!

2. The Truth & Reconcilliation thing: I lost some friends and relatives to the ethnic clashes that rocked our country between 1992 and 1997. I was therefore pleasantly suprised when my editor at one of the Kenyan media houses assigned me to cover one of the public hearings of the Makau team. Makau, Mutava, Ali Shee and Amukowa Anangwe were all there. The stuff that came out of the day's hearings would make Escape from Sobibor look like a Sunday school picnic! So I was dissapointed by Kiraitu in this respect while he was still in charge of his justice docket, whatever the excuse. I hope Martha does something in this respect.

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From Russia, with love :-)

2006-02-17T10:39:00.000+03:00

While the jury is still out on the PAC report and the attendant "sanitize-myself-ahead-of-2007" battles for guys in and outside government, something will have to give in the way of openness in the area of capitalization and privatization of some public corporations / parastatals.

You know the Russian orligachs that hoovered around Boris Yeltsin and, in part, continue to hound Vladimir Putin (no hard feelings towards Chelsea fans :-)?

Most of these guys made their kill at the height of the results of the petroiska and other fruits of the glasnost when most souls had their eyes on what they thought was the bigger prize (changes at the Kremlin).

Thus a good number of Russians remain in abject poverty, battling against their biggest silent killer apart from substance abuse - HIV / Aids (much because of the weak moral fabric spawned by an atheistic 70 years-plus past as well as the continent's never-ending "sexual revolution") - and other issues that are spiralling into off-shots of heightened Anti-Semitism (there always has to be someone to blame for some of these things; global and European Jewry in particular has had its unfair share of this down the ages).

Not very different from most post-independent African stories in several respects.

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No easy walk to Wanjiku's Caanan

2006-02-17T00:21:00.000+03:00

The last time I checked, Kenya wasn't supposed to run an Orwellian-style Thought Police but I think a number of us are running the high risk of denying the progress Kenya has achieved over the past 3 years and spearheading a growing assault on truth and memory by forces opposed to the government of Kenya popularly elected and by law established.....ad infinutum:-)

Need an attorney? Look no further than yourself and call collect.... :-)

Truth is, whatever the outcome of the next polls, no one is going to ever take the citizenry's awareness of their place in our polity for granted.

No, not one.

There can be no illussion that much that ails our country and its leadership can be dramatically and quickly altered - there are 40-plus years of our collective history to teach us that.

Nor can the damage rendered by the pervasive perception that Wanjiku is still politically illiterate be erased in the near term (in the minds of some leaders and citizens on both sides of the current political divide).

Steps can be taken to incrementally prepare the voters for a more constructive, interrogative discussion with leadership aspirants at all levels during the next polls (beyond the few minutes some folks often get on air or space in the papers during such times).

Incremental preparation, however, will have to contend with the fluid spointaineity that accompanies much of our politics these days.

Town Hall meetings - that kind of low-down one-on-ones with leaders is something we could borrow from our various experiences abroad (my best experience of this is captured at the Carter Presidential Center as well as sections of the MLK Center - both in Atlanta, GA) in helping our people shape their destinies in this matter.

I hope and pray our fellow citizen's eyes shall be opened to the immense possibilities before them that lie in them getting to hold their leaders accountable in all they are and do now and in future, regardless of tribe and political affiliation.

There's much to be said about this matter, but that's my 8 cents worth of it.

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Cancellation of passports - Wow!

2006-02-16T15:18:00.000+03:00

Two days ago, the Government directed 20 individuals to hand in their passports to the Criminal Investigation Department as a result of the ongoing investigations into corruption.

Despite this directive, two individuals Hon. Mutula Kilonzo & Philip K. Murgor did not hand over their passports as required. The Government has, therefore, cancelled the passports belonging to Hon. Mutula Kilonzo and Mr. Philip K. Murgor with immediate effect. Therefore the passports have no validity.

Airports and other border-points have been notified not to accept these cancelled passports. The Principal Immigration Officer has written to the two individuals and asked them to hand over their passports to the nearest immigration office for physical cancellation.

As investigations into corruption unfold, more people are likely to be asked to hand over their passports to the police.

If any suspect sneaks out of the country, the Government will, in conjunction with Interpol, put out a red notice alert for their arrest and repatriation into the country to face appropriate charges.

As the Government continues with investigations into corruption, we urge all citizens to obey the law and to cooperate when called upon.

Dr. Alfred N. Mutua PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY & GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON

February 16, 2006

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Drifting

2006-02-16T12:53:00.000+03:00

By TONY EVANS Feb 16, 2006

The story is told of a boy who was floating his boat on a pond when the boat drifted away. A man came by, saw the boat drifting out on the pond, and began throwing stones on the far side of the boat.

The boy asked, "what are you doing?"

But then something very interesting happened. As the stones hit the water beyond the boat, they created ripples which pushed the boat back toward the boy. Even though the stones disturbed the smooth water, they achieved the desired result.

That's how it is with God sometimes. When we drift away from Him, He throws the disturbing stones out beyond us in order to push us back to the shore of His love.

www.tonyevans.org

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Here Am I - Send Me

2006-02-16T01:02:00.000+03:00

By STEVE TROXEL Feb 15, 2006

In the beginning of Isaiah's ministry, he was allowed to see a vision of God seated on the throne in Heaven. He was allowed to witness the full majesty of God and hear His Heavenly praise; "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3). The vision of God was so pure and so holy that Isaiah was immediately confronted with his own sinful condition; "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5).

But God comforted Isaiah by letting him know his sin had been removed; "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isaiah 6:7). God had a purpose for revealing Himself to Isaiah: He was looking for a messenger to deliver His Word to the people of Israel; "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8).

If we were asked such a question, we might be tempted to request a few details before answering. We might like to know where we would be sent and what we would be doing. But Isaiah had just experienced the full glory of the Lord. He had seen absolute perfection, recognized his utter sinful condition, and received complete forgiveness from a loving Father. With this understanding of the One who was asking, Isaiah had only one reply.

Isaiah 6:8 "And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"

Isaiah had no way of knowing his reply would be the start of sixty years of ministry. He had no way of knowing the many hardships his answer would cause, nor the many joys he would experience through walking in the presence of God; but he knew the One who was calling... and that was enough!

As a child of God who has seen and understands His glory, there should be only one response when our Father calls. There's no need for lengthy questions regarding the how, why, or what. When the Creator of the Universe calls, we can assume He has made a wise and perfect choice.

God never makes mistakes and will never call us without also providing the tools to accomplish everything in His plan: "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8). We have received His forgiveness and are seeking to abide in the glory of His presence. We must now learn to trust Him more and follow wherever He leads.

God always calls the right person for the job and always provides all we need to fulfill the calling. When God calls, let's trust Him and boldly answer: Here am I - send me!

Have a Great Day!

Steve Troxel God's Daily Word Ministries

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Githongo: The man and the secrets

2006-02-12T12:14:00.000+03:00

The Watergate break-in and the attendant political fallouts happen to have been part of my media and public opinion studies seminar at school some time back.

No doubt the Brits and others have their own interests in this (they always call it "enlightened self-interest") just as there were several forces that needed Nixon out of office at the time (not just the Democrats), some of which Americans will never want to hear you discussing in public (the same applies to events surrounding JFK's demise).

Octogenerian Mark Felt confessed last year to having been Carl Bernstein's and Bob Woodward's "Deep Throat," but some biographers of his boss at the FBI at the time (John Edgar Hoover) had already expressed reservations about his (Felt's) loyalties earlier on.

In his book THE MAN AND THE SECRETS, a Hoover biographer (Curt Gentry, am not sure he was the author) it would seem already had his pulse on this.

Githongo has every chance to survive the "you were a mole" onslaught on him just as much as he could succumb to overdoses of Kikuyu nationalism in the process that, in recent times, appears to be finding its expression in persons and processes outside Kibaki's control (let the reader understand).

The Brits and other nations know much more about our nation, its resources , potential, leadership, na kadhalika not so much because Githongo and others may have told them but because much that goes for the new international / world order is skewed in their favour.

Going the Gamal Abdel Nasser way (of nationalizing the economy) or, in these Chaves hours, rabid anti-Mzunguism, is always an attractive option in trying to break such a strangle-hold; but our leaders often sound hollow when they voice such (because they are often less motivated by public interest and more by personal interest, i.e becoming our Black Whitemen).

It's partly why I have consistently insisted that change ain't coming our way any soon (even 2007) as most of the current political players / leaders are either sold out to the previously-mentioned international interests or are the hypocrites who would rather we defended them in their sins when they are killing us softly (consider corruption and much that goes for "privatization").

An obvious disconnect in such dialogues often is our present crop of leaders' repeated refrains / references to our brutal colonial past in their internecine and / or such other wars with foreigners.

You see, that provokes the romantic in us that naturally evokes the romanticised negritude that was mostly blind to our inherent weaknesses in our carvoting with forces on the world stage.

Leopold Senghor is long dead physically and ideologically; I keep wondering why anyone would would to ressurect him.

I see some good souls attempting to conveniently rouse him (mostly some of my dearest Kikuyu buddies - no pun or offence intended to the community) in the marketplace of ideas in the Church, sections of the media, on the Office of Public Communications forum, BBC threads and other fora where a similar debate is obtaining; but how far can we go with such in shaping our destiny as a country in the 21st century?

It is Wole Soyinka, if my memory serves me right, who reminded Leopold that a tiger need not prove its tigritude.

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Last chance for Kibaki to redeem himself and save the country

2006-02-12T12:10:00.000+03:00

By MWANGi IRUNGU In politics, as in every battlefield, one can never write off an opponent untill he has exhausted his last arsenal, lest the enemy be saving the best for last.

With the disintegration of NARC, loss in the referendum, failure to honour most of the 2002 campaign pledges and Anglo Leasing scandal among other political impediments, President Mwai Kibaki might on his way to his lost yet also familiar hoods in Muthaiga or Othaya. Many Kenyans have written him off politically, saying he cannot redeem himself and proclaim his lost credibility which many were ready to accord him when he rode to power.

With the Anglo Leasing scam staring at him, with no strong political support in some provinces like Nyanza and Rift Valley save for Nakuru District, Kibaki's political flame is slowly fading away as it gets blown by the anti-Kibaki wave sweeping across the country.

Many Kenyans had a dream, they dreamt of Kibaki becoming a true African statesman who would hang his coat on the same rack with the likes of Nelson Mandela but that dream is no more in the current scheme of things in the country.

But can Kibaki, like a limping wounded soldier in the battle field get his groove to re-claim his credibility and erase his name on the awaiting list of the "missing in action"?

Kibaki has what it takes to write his name as a redeemer of the Kenyan political, economic and social injustices that has rocked this country for years.

Once upon a time, the story is told, Kenya rode on the same economic lane with the economic giants of the South east Asia but the current state is incomparable.

Our selfish political system which is yet to be up-rooted exhaustively gave way to what Gachoka MP Joseph Nyaga termed as "a crop of very rich inexperienced Africans and Asians who were picked up and used by senior Africans to loot State coffers."

Many public looters-cum-politicians and civil servants are holding offices for which they are not qualified due to their sins of the past.

Many in the current and past governments have plundered public resources and its time we got rid of them and save out weeping country.

Kenyans have tried to get rid of people who hold public offices in the guise of serving Kenyans through the ballot but it has proved hard as they have easily bribed their way up the ladder. Many are mentioned in the just released Goldenberg scam where Court of Appeal Judge Julius Bosire is baying for their blood.

Others are in the Ndung'u report having grabbed public land for personal gain and a number too are in the Anglo Leasing scam.

The Akiwumi tribal clashes report is yet to gather dust on the shelves and it will come in handy to put the final nail on the political coffins of additional ones who might have survived the axe.

With all his executive powers, Kibaki has what it takes to clean this country and start on a clean slate.

With the help of the Attorney General, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Judiciary the president can take drastic measures of whatever nature that will see such people barred from serving Kenyans in any public position/ office.

Some ODM political mandarins are waiting anxiously to make the Anglo Leasing scandal a campaign item but once Kibaki decides to crack the whip very few will evade the onslaught.

If he decides to crack the whip Kibaki should resist going to bed with some politicians who might be willing to assure him of political survival.

Kibaki should not be moved by some tribal-minded ones who will start inciting Kenyans to avoid the humiliation by crusading that the he is after "our tribe, our land, our people, our....."

Kenyans will be ready to back the president if he takes genuine action against such people no matter their political pedigree.

All what Kenyans want Kibaki to do is, delete them and empty the recycle bin. Period!

Kenyans are praying for a miracle that will get rid of people who have done injustice to them as a country.

Its time Mr. President you fully did your duty with no fear or favour.

Some advice for Mr. Kibaki though, sir, "This world is full of people who do their duty half-heartedly, grudgingly and poorly. Don't be like them. Whatever is your duty Sir, do it as fully and perfectly as you possibly can. And when you have finished your duty, go on to spare some time and talent in service to the less fortunate people, not for any reward at all, but because it is the right thing to do." (Geoffrey William Griffin, founder, Starehe Boys Center, 1933-2005). The writer is Daystar University graduate and a freelance writer and can be reached at m_irungu@wananchi.net

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